FAO Chief Economist briefing from New York – FAO Food Price Index for February 2023

Friday, 3 March | 12 PM (EST)

The war in Ukraine is not only affecting food security in the country, but also forcing massive displacement, with likely serious impacts to food production and agriculture-based livelihoods, a key source of income in rural areas of Ukraine. FAO has also been sounding the alarms on the core areas of risk associated with the escalation and continuation of the conflict, with far-reaching impacts on global food and agricultural input markets, in turn adding pressure to the already dire food insecurity the world is witnessing. 

According to FAO projections and market simulations, the number of undernourished people in the world could increase by anywhere from 7.6 million to 13.1 million relative to the baseline scenario, as a consequence of the conflict. What's more, wheat is a staple food for over 35 percent of the world's population, and the lack of substitutability and dietary diversity will likely compound the pressure on wheat prices. In fact, almost 50 nations are dependent on both countries for over 30 percent of their wheat import needs. Of these, 26 depend on Ukraine and the Russian Federation for over 50 percent of their wheat import needs. FAO expects further price and supply pressure on commodities that are vital to ensuring global food security. This comes at a time when up to 828 million people faced hunger in 2021.

Both Ukraine and the Russian Federation are among the top three global exporters of wheat, maize, rapeseed, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil. In addition, the Russian Federation also stands as the world’s top exporter of nitrogen fertilizers and the second leading supplier of both potassic and phosphorous fertilizers. 

Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, other conflicts, climate extremes, economic slowdowns and downturns, and the ripple effects of COVID-19, tune in to the briefing to journalists by the FAO Chief Economist, Máximo Torero, on the latest FAO Food Price Index update for the month of September.

The FAO Food Price Index is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities. It consists of the average of five commodity group price indices weighted by the average export shares of each of the groups over 2014-2016.

Read more about the FAO Food Prince Index here.

Find out more following the press briefing from New York.