What's New

FEWS NET has released the latest global price watch, citing declining food prices in Central America, Haiti, and West Africa. Despite ongoing harvests in Kenya, Somalia, and other regions in the Horn of Africa, the region continues to experience extremely high prices. Meanwhile, conflict in Sudan and South Sudan is threatening food security in the area, as are trade restrictions and poor harvest predictions.

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In a long-awaited move, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission on October 18 approved limits on trading in the commodities markets . Specifically, the new rules limit the number of commodity contracts that any investor can hold in agriculture, energy, or metals contracts. The trade limits, originally mandated in the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act which was passed in July 2010, stemmed from worldwide concerns that commodity index and other funds contributed to the 2008 surge in food and fuel prices, and could again be contributing to recent price spikes.

The ongoing crisis in the Horn of Africa has shown that the challenge of food insecurity is alive and well. The 2011 G20 meetings have paid particular attention to the issues of high food prices, food price volatility, and food insecurity. G20 leaders have involved leading international institutions, such as the FAO, IFAD, WFP, and IFPRI, and have established several action plans to address these important issues.

Download the scoping report on the Agricultural Market Information System, designed to improve food market transparency and information-sharing.

GIEWS has released the latest Global Food Price Monitor, citing a decline in the FAO Food Price Index for the third straight month. International grains prices fell in September, while the price of rice rose on the global market. Eastern Africa continues to experience cereal prices that are two to four times higher than they were this time last year.

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Improving global food security and ending hunger worldwide are daunting tasks, and policymakers striving toward these goals face many obstacles, from changing climate conditions to increasing financial speculation to highly concentrated export markets. These factors and more can contribute to high, and highly volatile, food prices, threatening global food security and causing widespread human suffering.