FAO: Food prices in Morocco note steady, continuous rise amid high and ongoing inflation

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) kept track of Morocco’s steady rise in the food price index, which in July reached 15.3% while it was 18.2% on average across the Middle East and North Africa.

The monthly change in the price of a basket of staple food commodities on the global market is tracked by the FAO Food Price Index. It comprises of the weighted average of the price indices for five commodity groups from 2014 to 2016 divided by the percentage of exports for each group.

The suspension of the “Black Sea Grain Transfer Initiative,” which was negotiated by the United Nations and Turkey to re-pump food and essential fertilizer exports from Ukraine to the rest of the world, as well as the imposition of new trade restrictions on rice, both contributed to an increase in global food prices in July, according to the same organization.

The Index above, which analyzes monthly changes in the prices paid by consumers abroad for a selection of the most traded food commodities, averaged 123.9 points in July, up 1.3% from the month before but still 11.8% below the level it reached in July 2022.

This surge is attributed to the FAO vegetable oil price index, which after seven months of continuous fall, jumped sharply by 12.1% from its level in June, explained FAO.

The decision by the Russian Federation to halt the Black Sea Grain Transport Initiative’s implementation resulted in fresh doubts over exportable supply, which helped drive up international sunflower oil prices by more than 15% from one month to the next. 

Concerns about the future of production in the central producing nations also led to an international increase in the price of palm, soy, and rapeseed oils.

The FAO also kept track of a 0.5% drop in the FAO cereal price index from its level in June, which was primarily caused by a 4.8% drop in global prices for coarse grains due to increased seasonal supplies brought on by ongoing harvests in Argentina and Brazil, as well as the possibility that US production will be higher than anticipated. 

Wheat prices increased 1.6% on a global scale, the first month-to-month gain in nine months, as a result of persistent dry weather in North America and concerns over exports from Ukraine.