What's New

The FAO Global Food Price Index averaged 214 points in April, down 3 points from the previous month. Cereals prices aided this decline with a drop of nearly 2 percent from March and 16 percent from April 2011. Maize prices declined on solid production prospects, while wheat and rice prices also fell marginally. Soybean prices, on the other hand, surged on fears of tightening global supplies.

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Price volatility in agricultural commodity markets has received a lot of attention in the past year. (For more information on food price volatility, see the Excessive Food Price Variability Early Warning System .) As part of the 2011 G20 Action Plan , the Agriculture Ministers agreed on several initiatives to address high food prices and price volatility. The Rapid Response Forum is a part of the larger Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) initiative and is designed to promote timely discussion among global policymakers of abnormal agricultural market conditions.

On June 18-19, leaders of the G20 will meet in Los Cabos, Mexico to continue addressing global challenges such as food security and food price volatility. The 2011 G20 Summit led to important steps to reduce price volatility, including the creation of the Excessive Food Price Variability Early Warning system and the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) . This year's summit will need to expand upon these steps in order to reach the goals of reduced volatility, poverty reduction, and global food security.

FEWS NET has released its April Food Price Watch, citing stable prices throughout much of Africa and Central America. The Sahel region saw relatively stable cereals prices due to food assistance interventions and successful transport from surplus areas. In East Africa, staple prices remained generally stable, though high; some areas in this region saw seasonal increases.

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The 2011 Horn of Africa food crisis reinforced the need for governments and international organizations to be able to react quickly to ongoing humanitarian crises such as drought and famine. In particular, emergency food supplies are critical to mitigate the effects of negative weather events and price shocks. Such supplies must be maintained and used effectively, however, to prevent further disruption and volatility in both global and local food markets.