Global Highlights
• During the first quarter of 2014, the global cereal price index decreased by 12% year-on-year, and slightly increased by 2% compared to the previous quarter.
• Real prices of maize were relatively stable and only 2% higher than the previous quarter of 2014.
Compared to the same period of the previous year, maize prices are low (-28%).
• Real prices of wheat increased significantly by 9% from Q1 to Q2-2014. More recently, for June, prices are down due to an increase in global supply and production.
• For rice, real prices are down by 7% since Q1-2014 and firmly below Q2-2013 (-27%) following record projections of global rice production early in the quarter.
• During the second quarter, the cost of the minimum food basket increased severely (>10%) in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua particularly due to price increases for red beans. High changes (5-10%) occurred in 8 monitored countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Palestine, Sudan, Tanzania, the Philippines, and Yemen. In the remaining 56 of 67 monitored countries, the impact of the commodity price changes was low or moderate (<5%).
• Price spikes, as monitored by ALPS (ALert for Price Spikes) are evident in India, Mali, Pakistan,
Palestine, Sudan, and Zambia as highlighted on the map below. The spikes indicate crisis levels for the most important staple sold in the monitored market.
