The increasing availability of urgently needed grain from Ukraine delivered through the Black Sea grain deal has led to a steady decrease in international food prices, according to senior United Nations officials.
UN trade chief Rebeca Grynspan reported at the start of this week that food prices had steadily gone down and exports from Ukraine and Russia had increased since a July grain deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
"This is easing the pain for 1.6 billion people in the world that have been facing a cost-of-living rise, especially because of the increase in food prices," Grynspan said.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), food prices declined globally in August for the fifth consecutive month. "Reintegrating grain and fertilizers into global markets, lowering global food prices so that vulnerable people everywhere could access affordable food was our main objective for the deal."
Amir Abdulla, the UN Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, said that 129 fully laden ships carrying over 2.8 million tons of grain have left the three designated Ukrainian Black Sea ports for different countries.
Not felt by consumers
Despite this news offering a glimmer of hope, Grynspan expressed concern about the fact that this international price drop was not being seen in domestic markets, especially in developing countries.
“There is still a problem for many developing countries because the prices are not going down for them as we wished. There is much more to be done," she said.
This was also reflected by Statbel figures published on Wednesday, showing that food inflation in Belgium stands at 10.3% this month, up 10% from November last year. Especially prices for oils, fish, dairy products, bread and cereals have risen sharply in recent months.
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This is in part due to the high energy prices and transport costs that companies within the food chain are facing, which are also driving up the prices of food.
Meanwhile, shipments of Russian fertilizers are also lagging, which resulted in crops in West Africa becoming much more expensive to account for the additional costs. Fertilizers are now three times the price they were before the pandemic.
“The UN continues to pursue all efforts to allow for a positive outcome on Russian exports of ammonia to international markets. The affordability crisis that we have now will be a catastrophic crisis if we don’t solve the fertilizer problem.”
