Global food prices soar to 6-year high, UN agency says – By Russia Today Staff (Russia Today) / Feb 7 2021
World food prices rose in January for the eighth consecutive month, led by cereals, vegetable oils and sugar, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
The FAO said that its food price index marked a 4.3 percent increase from December, reaching its highest level since July 2014. The index tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities.
The cereal price index showed a sharp 7.1 percent monthly increase led by a global surge in the price of maize, the crop North Americans call corn.
Maize prices spiked 11.2 percent and are now 42.3 percent above their January 2020 level, “reflecting increasingly tight global supply amid substantial purchases by China and lower-than-expected production and stock estimates in the United States of America as well as a temporary suspension of maize export registrations in Argentina.”
CONTINUE > https://www.rt.com/business/514594-global-food-prices-record-high/