Food Inflation Eases, But Uncertain Crops Slow Wider Relief
- Worries about harvests and future supply start to emerge
- Floods, droughts and high temperatures are reducing crops
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While the outlook for global crops is improving from the tumultuous weeks after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the threats of drought, flooding and blistering heat are keeping supplies tight and prices elevated.
Crop futures have retreated to pre-war levels, and the UN’s monthly measure of food prices sank the most since 2008. That’s offering some relief to consumers who have faced rampant food inflation since the start of the pandemic. Still, the war is putting more pressure on farmers from the US to India to replace crop losses and make up for the shortfall in supplies from Ukraine, normally a key shipper to poorer nations in the Middle East and Africa.