Key facts
- World food prices reached their highest level since late 2022 in August.
- The FAO Food Price Index averaged 133.3 points in August, a 1.9% increase from July.
- Cereal prices hit their highest level since May 2024, with wheat and maize prices rising significantly.
- Vegetable oil prices also increased, reaching their highest point since June 2022.
- Sugar prices jumped 11.9% to their highest level since June 2025.
- The FAO cut its global cereal production forecast for 2026 by 3.4 million metric tons.
World food prices surged in August to their highest level since late 2022, driven by concerns over supply due to adverse weather and geopolitical disruptions, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 133.3 points in August, a 1.9% increase from July, marking the highest score since November 2022.
Increases were observed across all commodity groups. The FAO's cereals price index rose 2.2% month-on-month to its highest since May 2024, influenced by robust demand, weather concerns, and uncertainty surrounding Black Sea export flows. Wheat prices climbed 2.6% and maize prices rose 2.5%.
The FAO's vegetable oil index edged up 0.6% to its highest since June 2022, primarily due to higher world palm and soy oil prices driven by strong import demand and potential El Niño impacts on Southeast Asian production. The agency's sugar benchmark jumped 11.9% to its highest since June 2025, with lower production in Brazil and weather concerns in Europe and Asia contributing.
The FAO also cut its 2026 global cereal production forecast by 3.4 million metric tons to 2.980 billion tons, representing the largest annual decline since 2018. Forecast world cereal stocks for 2026/2027 were revised down 1.1% to 947.2 million tons.
Intensified Russian attacks on shipping corridors in the Black Sea, including strikes on civilian grain ships, have led to declining exports and a shrinking number of vessels willing to dock at Ukrainian ports. Some 90% of Ukraine's agricultural goods are exported via the Black Sea, accounting for 20% of the country's GDP before the full-scale invasion. Ukraine's exports fell to just 30% of its target in the first two weeks of August.