European Food Prices

Global food prices climbed to their highest level since January 2023 in July, driven by sharp increases in sugar, cereals and vegetable oils, after extreme heat and drought ravaged European harvests.

The Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index rose 0.6% month-on-month to 131.1 points, with sugar prices jumping 5.6% and cereals up 3.4%. Wheat prices surged 5.8% while vegetable oils reached their highest point since June 2022. Meat and dairy prices declined slightly.

Conflicts in Iran and Ukraine, combined with the El Niño weather phenomenon, are pushing costs higher while reducing yields. The World Food Programme warned that 50 million people could face acute hunger by late 2027 due to El Niño. Austria is experiencing massive crop failures across cereals, potatoes and sugar beet, while U.S. Corn Belt production has also been weather-affected.

The World Food Programme projects the strengthening El Niño will drive nearly 49 million additional people into acute hunger by the end of 2027, raising the global total of food-insecure people to roughly 274 million from 225 million, after scientists warned of a potentially record-breaking Pacific warming event.

The assessment examined 45 countries already facing food instability and found Central America and southern Africa will bear the heaviest impacts, with significant deterioration also expected in East Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. In Africa alone, at least 24 million people could be affected. Acting WFP Executive Director Carl Skau called the phenomenon a grave threat to millions of already vulnerable people, as droughts and conflict-driven food price pressures compound the crisis.

The weather pattern is expected to peak between September and December, potentially becoming the strongest El Niño in 70 years. The WFP and FAO have called for increased support and already deployed more than $14 million in anticipatory aid to half a million people across Chad, Mauritania, South Sudan, Uganda, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Slovakia recorded a new all-time high of 41.4 degrees Celsius in Kamenica nad Hronom on Wednesday, surpassing the previous mark set in the same village on June 30. Austria also broke its national record for a second consecutive day, with Bad Deutsch-Altenburg reaching 41.2 degrees, after Vienna set a capital-city record of 40.8 degrees on Tuesday. Bratislava hit 40.6 degrees, a new local high, after the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute issued maximum alerts and rail speeds were capped at 50 km/h on some routes.

The heatwave's toll extended across the continent. Poland's Institute of Meteorology and Water Management raised its highest heat alarm for Warsaw and other areas, with southwestern Poland nearing 40 degrees. In South Korea, at least 16 people died from extreme heat and Seoul declared its highest alert level.

Drought conditions intensified: three municipalities in southern Moravia ran dry, low Danube levels threatened Hungary's Paks nuclear plant, and Austria's Pasterze glacier risks splitting in two. France logged its hottest July on record and England and Wales their driest.