The cost of staple foods rose last month as searing heatwaves and geopolitical uncertainty pushed up energy prices around the world.
A basket of staple foods cost one per cent more in July than a year earlier, according to data published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Sugar led the surge, climbing 5.6 per cent, driven by fears that hot, dry weather could hit crop yields in the European Union, compounded by El Niño conditions in key producing countries across Asia.
Cereal prices jumped 3.4 per cent from June, reversing earlier declines to stand 6.9 per cent above last July’s level.
Rice held steady, but wheat prices leapt 5.8 per cent amid continued disruption to Black Sea exports caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, alongside expected damage to harvests from recent heatwaves.
Maize rose 3.6 per cent, driven by concerns over hot, dry conditions in parts of the United States and knock-on effects from firmer energy markets amid rising geopolitical tensions, the FAO said.
Vegetable oil prices climbed a full two per cent to their highest level since June 2022, fuelled by demand from Indonesia’s biodiesel industry and higher crude oil prices.
Separately, UN-backed food security analysts reported a “notable improvement” in hunger levels in Malawi compared with the past two years, driven largely by a strong 2025/26 harvest following the severe El Niño-driven shortages of 2024/25.
Despite the recovery, an estimated 1.9 million people in the southern African country remain in the grip of “crisis”-level food insecurity — Phase 3 on the five-point IPC scale.
