Key messages:
• In West Africa, food prices were stable or decreased in November as staple food availability continued to improve with the ongoing marketing season. Some earlier-than-anticipated price increases occurred in region’s urban centers and structurally-deficit zones due to limited commodity flows from surplusproducing areas.
• In East Africa, most staple food prices followed their seasonal trends in November— increasing with the progression of the lean season in Rwanda and Tanzania and generally decreasing elsewhere as supplies from ongoing harvests continue to arrive on markets. November 2012 grain prices in Sudan were relatively high due to high inflation and high transport costs, and localized conflict that have jointly disrupted the marketing system.
• In Southern Africa, food prices rose steadily in most reference markets as the lean season progressed in November. Localized production shortfalls and rising fuel costs have maintained strong upward pressure on staple food prices in deficit areas of southern Malawi, central Mozambique, and southern Zimbabwe.
• In Haiti, maize and bean prices continued to increase in November as a result of poor Primavera harvests and crop damages from tropical storms earlier in the year. In Central America, food prices were stable or decreased seasonally between October and November due to the availability of supplies from recent local and regional harvests.
• In Afghanistan and Tajikistan, food prices were stable or continued to increase between October and November due to strong demand for winter stocks and the high costs of regional imports.
• International maize and wheat prices in key reference markets remained stable at high levels between October and November 2012 due to tight global supplies (Figure 1). Vegetable oil export prices continued to decline in November as 2012/13 global production prospects continued to improve.
International rice and fuel prices remained stable.
