What's New

The world continues to lose ground in its efforts to end hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030, according to the recently-released 2022 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report. As many as 828 million people were affected by hunger globally in 2021 (around 10.5% of the world population)—an increase of 46 million since the end of 2020 and of 150 million since the COVID-19 pandemic began a year earlier.

On July 22, Ukraine and Russia reached an agreement to allow exports of grain and other agricultural products to resume from selected Ukraine Black Sea ports after months of Russian blockade. The agreement comes at a time when storage capacity is reaching its limits, with the much of the 2022 wheat harvest and the approximately 20 million metric tons of grains and oilseeds harvested in 2021 remaining in storage—unable to ship because of the blockade.

Marking the third consecutive monthly decline, the FAO Food Price Index fell 2.3 percent in June 2022 from the previous month, driven by declines in vegetable oils, sugar, and cereal prices while meat and dairy prices rose. Despite this continued decline, the index is still 23.1 percent above June 2021 levels.

High food price inflation—driven by disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, climate shocks, and the war in Ukraine—has made the affordability of food and food insecurity top global concerns. Even before the current rise in prices, 3.1 billion people, about 40% of the global population, could not afford a healthy diet, according to the United Nation’s 2022 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report.

In May, the FAO Food Price Index declined by 0.6 percent from the previous month, driven by the drop in vegetable oils, sugar and dairy prices, while meat and cereal prices rose. The Index is still 22.8 percent above May 2021 levels.