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Food market in Nigeria (archive image)
Photo: AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE / REUTERS
According to the United Nations (UN), global food prices are higher than they have been for more than ten years. The UN Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO) determined this according to its own information with its food price index, as it was called in a message on Thursday. According to this, global prices rose by 3.9 percentage points in October compared to the previous month of September and thus reached the highest index value (on average 133.2 points) since July 2011.
The index tracks the monthly change for selected wholesale food products.
However, it only allows conclusions to be drawn as to whether consumers have to pay more or less, because it does not reflect the extent to which retailers pass the higher wholesale prices on to end consumers.
However, it is an important early indicator - also to be able to recognize emerging nutritional crises at an early stage.
Energy crisis affects fertilizer prices
According to the FAO, the price index rose mainly for cereals, vegetable oils and dairy products.
The experts attribute the development to a combination of several factors.
Bad weather has adversely affected harvests around the world, freight costs for transporting food have risen significantly and the shortage of labor is also having an impact on supplies.
The higher energy prices are also problematic because large quantities of natural gas are often used for the production of fertilizer.
If prices rise there, farmers can afford less fertilizer, which reduces future yields.
"The problem with inputs and fertilizers and its effects on next year's harvest are worrying," the Bloomberg news agency quotes FAO expert Abdolreza Abbassian.
In contrast, meat prices fell slightly (minus 0.7 percent), for example because China bought less pork.
The value of the price index for sugar also fell (minus 1.8 percent) because, among other things, the countries imported less.
beb / dpa