Food Prices Around The World Are Rising Faster Than People’s Incomes

Food prices around the world are reportedly rising faster than people’s incomes, and experts have warned ‘it’s only going to get worse’.

As per a recent report from Bloomberg, fears about hunger and malnutrition are on the rise across the world, as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to have a damaging economic impact.

Prices in the US reportedly rose close to 3% in the year ending January 2, approximately double the overall inflation rate. This jump will particularly affect struggling families who have already been pushed close to the brink.

As per the US Department of Agriculture, the poorest Americans already use 36% of their wages for food. Now mass layoffs in lower-wage work such as retail and transportation have put increasing strain on household budgets.

Furthermore, the price of store cupboard staples such as grains, sunflower seeds, soybeans and sugar have escalated, with global food prices reaching a six-year high back in January.

These prices are not expected to drop any time soon due to a combination of bad weather, increased demand, and global supply chains which have been affected by the pandemic.

Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Canada’s Dalhousie University, has warned that: ‘People will have to get used to paying more for food.’ He added: ‘It’s only going to get worse’.

This issue extends far beyond the US, with food prices across the world seeing a steep rise. Bloomberg reports the price of tofu in Indonesia is now 30% higher than in December, while the price of local mainstay turtle beans in Brazil is up by 54% compared to January 2020.

Meanwhile, in Russia, food shoppers are now paying 61% more for sugar than they did just one year ago. Both Russia and Argentina have now placed price curbs on certain staples, while putting tariffs on exports to try and contain domestic food prices.

Emerging markets are also suffering a hike in the costs of raw material costs, with commodities such as oil, copper and grains being driven higher by expectations of a post-pandemic economic recovery as well as by loose monetary policies.

Consumers in the US, Canada and Europe will reportedly also feel these effects as businesses, which have already endured pressure from coronavirus-related disruptions plus rising costs of transport and packaging – run out of ways of absorbing the surge.

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