The World Bank’s food price index has been relatively stable during the past seven months as declines in the prices of grains offset increases in other food items. However, the index remains over 50 percent above its pre-pandemic nominal average (2015-19). Despite the non-renewal of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and India’s export ban of non-basmati rice, the food price index is expected to average lower in 2023 compared to 2022. The decline will be driven by lower oils and meals and (less so) grain prices, in response to better crop yields for the crop season that just started (August 2023 to July 2024). {chart} ... (full story)