en.Wedoany.com Reported - Global food prices rose to their highest level in more than three years in July 2026, according to a report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Friday. The organization's global food price index for traded food commodities rose 0.6 percent month-on-month in July, driven primarily by higher prices for cereals, sugar, and vegetable oils. Renewed supply concerns in key grain export corridors, compounded by adverse weather conditions in major agricultural production areas, were the direct causes of this price uptick.

The focus of global food markets is shifting from the initial turmoil triggered by the US-Iran war toward crop shortfalls, persistent trade uncertainty, and increasingly climate-related risks. Trade routes, weather conditions, and supply levels are replacing geopolitical conflicts as the key variables shaping global food price trends.

The supply situation in the Black Sea region is particularly severe. Escalating attacks between Russia and Ukraine have intensified concerns over supply from one of the world's most important grain export zones, pushing wheat prices to a two-year high in June 2026. In Europe, after extreme heatwaves devastated crops, grain harvests are expected to post one of the largest declines on record; drought in major agricultural regions of the United States is threatening corn and soybean output.

The abnormal development of El Niño, disruptions in fertilizer supplies, and rising energy costs following the Iran conflict are jointly forming a new wave of risk factors threatening production and trade in global food markets.