food prices

his article on the Food Security Portal states that international cereal prices remain significantly below last year’s levels due to abundant global supplies and strong export competition. While the Food Price Monitoring and Analysis of FAO shows that cereal prices are low, the regional story is more mixed. Grain prices continued to decline in most West African countries, but maize prices have soared throughout southern Africa, particularly South Africa and Malawi. »

This article examines the willingness-to-pay of consumers on small island states for locally produced and organic food products. To attain food security, successful production in agriculture is key. The authors argue that to this end, strategies are needed that tackle agricultural development through the production and consumption of sustainable food products. »

This article in the Financial Times elaborates on the impact of extreme weather on food prices and on the reasons for the declining global food prices despite climate concerns and the impacts of El Niño. International food prices, including sugar and dairy, have been falling for the past four years, with only one exceptional spike in October, particularly for sugar. The sudden spike in sugar prices illustrated the economic impact of the unusual weather events triggered by El Niño, which is expected to further disrupt commodity prices in 2016. »

This article examines the impact that export restrictions have on price volatility. Since 2007 food prices have become significantly higher and more volatile. This impacts food security because it affects household incomes and purchasing power. A more and more frequent response to price volatility is the use of export restrictions to stabilize domestic prices. However, when a country is a large exporter, the restrictions can even increase global price volatility. »

n this article in Nature Climate Change Hertel argues that using food prices to assess climate change impacts on food security is misleading. Since climate changes has different impacts on income a broader measure of household well-being, like changes in absolute poverty, is needed. Household food consumption depends on the balance between prices and income. Many farmers and farm workers benefit from higher food prices through better sales, more jobs or higher wages, as long as they sell more than they buy. »

This article elaborated on the impacts of shorter supply chains on the prices of fresh food in Turkey. The market for fresh food is often characterized by a large number of intermediaries delivering the product from the farmer to the retailer. The existence of these intermediaries is often claimed to introduce market frictions that push fresh food prices up. Using data from a policy reform in Turkey in the market for fresh fruit and vegetables, the authors tested the hypothesis that scaling down these frictions reduces the level of prices. »