As there is threatening food shortage and famine in regions of Africa, South Asia, and Ibero-America, there is also a global food price inflation underway, which recalls the severe food price shocks of 2007-08 before the financial crash.
The 15% inflation this year in the price of the average market basket of food in Africa, in a private institution’s survey, was already reported a week ago. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Oct. 8 reported cereals price inflation of 5.1% in September, worldwide, and 13.6% from September 2019. Vegetable oil prices averaged a 6% jump in September, and 14.1% from a year earlier; meat prices averaged a 9.4% increase from September 2019. Some prices had not risen: dairy, for example; and sugar prices were actually falling.
