Washington, April 20 (Agency) Global food prices will likely rise further in the coming months due to the conflict in Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and Belarus, and climate issues, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday in its World Economic Outlook (WEO). “Prices of agricultural commodities are likely to rise further – particularly wheat and, to a lesser extent, corn. These changes will add to already soaring prices of staple foods and mean that disruptions to Russian exports may be windfalls for other commodity exporters,” the report said. Together, Russia and Ukraine provide global markets with almost 30 percent of global wheat exports, it added.
Most of the regions of the globe will be affected by these price increases, and the conflict in Ukraine and related sanctions will reinforce this effect, the IMF warned. However, Asia will be able to mitigate the negative effects because of the falling price of rice, which will allow the region to mitigate cost-of-living increases for consumers in low-income countries, the report noted. “Looking ahead, commodity price increases are expected to persist through 2022 before easing somewhat in 2023,” it added. Wheat prices have already risen by 26.4 percent due to severe drought in Canada and wheat producing areas in the United States, the IMF noted.