Surging global food prices put staple meals out of reach

A year of coronavirus pandemic saw a pot of jollof rice grow steadily more expensive in the Nigerian suburb of Nyanya.

At Nyanya Market, near Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, the price of the rice that forms the base for the dish went up by 10%. A small tin of tomatoes? Twenty-nine percent costlier. And the onions? Their price jumped by a third, according to a Nigerian research firm.

Surging consumer food prices are a local problem — and a global one. In Russia, an increase in pasta prices left President Vladimir Putin boiling. In India, it’s cooking oil and, in Lebanon, bread. In meat-loving Argentina, the cost of some cuts of beef has doubled and beef consumption is at an all-time low.

The issue has made headlines the world over, including in the United States, where inflation has climbed to 5%, the highest level in 13 years.

The numbers are not rising uniformly and analysts caution that higher food prices are not always bad news. But, when disproportionately increasing food costs intertwine with other economic and social factors, the results can be hard to swallow.

“Even relatively well-off people complain about how food prices are seemingly on an unstoppable tear,” said Feyi Fawehinmi, a Nigerian author and analyst based in Britain.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said its food price index, which measures the global price of select foods, in May hit highs not seen since 2011, up 40% year-on-year.