Food Prices Rise Amid Middle East Conflict: UN Agency

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) AFP

Rome, Italy: Global food commodity prices rose in March as the war in the Middle East increased energy and fertiliser costs, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Friday on April, 3, 2026.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices of a basket of food commodities, rose 2.4 percent in March from February, marking a second consecutive increase. The agency said the rise was largely driven by higher energy prices linked to the conflict.

Vegetable oils recorded the sharpest increase, rising 5.1 percent, with palm oil prices reaching their highest level since mid-2022 due to higher crude oil prices. However, FAO said“broadly comfortable” global cereal supplies helped cushion the impact of the conflict.

“Price rises since the conflict began have been modest, driven mainly by higher oil prices and cushioned by ample global cereal supplies,” said FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero. He warned that if the conflict continues and fertiliser prices remain high, it could affect future production.

He stated that“Farmers will have to choose: farm the same with fewer inputs, plant less, or switch to less intensive fertilizer crops, Those choices will hit future yields and shape our food supply and commodity prices for the rest of this year and all of the next.”

The FAO added that disruptions to production and supply chain routes have increased uncertainty for key commodities such as wheat and maize.

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