World food prices at highest since 2022, says UN

World food prices rose in August to their highest since late 2022, impacted partly by the war on Iran, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Friday. Extreme heat and drought in Europe, the threat of a severe El Nino weather pattern and trade upheaval caused by the Ukraine and Iran wars have unsettled agricultural markets, pushing grain prices to three-year highs and sugar to a one-year peak, the agency said. The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in a basket of internationally traded food commodities, averaged 133.3 points in August, up from July's revised reading of 130.8. That was the highest score since November 2022, though nearly 17 percent below a record peak from March 2022, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported. Escalating attacks in the Black Sea have curtailed grain shipments from Russia and Ukraine, while the war on Iran is still straining flows of fertiliser for crops.