Conflicts and extreme weather pushing global food prices higher, warns UN

Global food prices have hit a four-year high, the United Nations has warned.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported on Friday that its Food Price Index climbed for a third straight month to 133.3 points in August.

That pushed the measure to its highest level since late 2022, as wars and weather impact supplies, the agency said.

Every category on the index – cereals, vegetable oils, sugar, meat and dairy – rose over the month.

FAO chief economist, Maximo Torero, said the rise is being driven by several factors.

“Climate shocks, geopolitical tensions and disrupted trade logistics are converging to tighten supply expectations,” he said in a statement.

That risk was clearest in sugar, which rose fastest of all the categories tracked, up almost 12 percent from July to its highest point in a year.

Cereal prices climbed more than two percent to their highest level in over two years.