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Six months after India introduced a set of export restrictions on rice with the aim of holding down domestic prices, global rice markets continue to feel the impact.

The FAO Food Price Index continued its decline in January, driven mainly by falling cereal and meat prices. The January 2024 Index was 10.4 percent below its January 2023 level.

In 2023, the FAO Food Price Index stood nearly 14 percent below its 2022 value, according to the report’s January edition. The December Index also declined month-on-month from November, falling 1.5 percent due to declining sugar, vegetable oil, and meat prices.

Achieving efficient and effective fertilizer usage in agricultural production is a critically important economic and environmental policy objective for countries at all stages of economic development, although the nature of the policy problem may vary radically in different contexts.

International food commodity prices have experienced a series of shocks over the past decade. The prices of rice, maize, and wheat spiked in 2007-08 as a result of supply shocks, demand for biofuels, and export trade restrictions. Commodity prices increased again in 2010-11. And most recently, global supply chain disruptions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent international food and fertilizer prices soaring, though they have moderated somewhat after peaking in mid-2022.