A key index of monthly prices for food commodities shows a 13.7% year-on-year drop from the spike that began with Russia's war in Ukraine.
The index for 2023 was 13.7 percent lower than the average value from the preceding year, but sugar and rice prices rose during that time, the Food and Agriculture Organization reported on Friday.
Sugar and rice were affected by climate change in the growing regions of Asia, causing prices to spike particularly in African and Asian nations.
The FAO Food Price Index tracks the costs of five commodity groups – cereal, vegetable oil, dairy products, meat and sugar – rather than consumer retail prices.
In the big picture, food distribution is a worry even if supplies are plentiful. That's due to war, drought and other logistical hurdles.
"Most of the markets are relatively well supplied but what we are noticing are concerns how these supplies are going to get where they need to be," Monika Tothova, a senior economist with FAO, told reporters in Geneva. "Any uncertainty will have significant impacts."
Calm markets, but conflict-driven food shortages
Sugar prices for 2023 as a whole rose 26.7% from 2022, the highest level since 2011, due to concerns about tighter global sugar supplies.
FAO said the increase occurred despite falling prices in December due to Brazil's strong exports and India's limits on the use of sugarcane for ethanol.
Rice prices for 2023 as a whole rose 21.1% from 2022, the highest level since 2008, due to concerns about the impact of El Niño on rice production and India's export restrictions.
The increase occurred, FAO said, despite a 15.4% fall for 2023 as a whole from the 2022 record annual average, reflecting "well supplied global markets."
Tothova noted food insecurity is driven by many factors, particularly conflict.
Global supply chains, hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, were further disrupted by the outbreak of wars due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022 and Hamas militants' surprise attack on Israel in Oct. 2023.
"Of course, the higher commodity prices are making it for many countries difficult to import sufficient amounts of basic foods, staple foods, to satisfy their needs," Tothova said.
"The situation on the world market is relatively calm at this point," she said, "but there are many other factors that are impacting the active food insecurity across the world."
