The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 124.9 points in January 2025, down 2.1 points from December 2024. The highest value for the index in the past 23 years was reached in March 2022. However, the rate of food price increases has been decreasing since.

Food prices worldwide The annual FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) by category shows that the price of vegetable oils grew by a particularly large margin. One of the factors that influenced the spike in oil prices worldwide during 2020 and 2021 were the supply-chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, after the war in Ukraine, shipping costs and grain prices also had a noticeable impact on global food prices. Global food prices are calculated to have increased by 3.68 percent, due to changes in shipping costs and grain prices. The European Union (EU) has experienced a particularly high increase in the annual consumer prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages, as compared to other selected countries worldwide. Inflation in Europe

The inflation rate for food in the EU grew from 0.2 percent in May 2021 to 19.2 percent in March 2023, as compared to the same month in the previous year. In the following months, the food inflation started decreasing again, reaching 1.86 percent in April 2024. The overall inflation rate in the Euro area reached its peak in December 2022 at 9.2 percent. The rate has since fallen to 2.4 percent in December 2024. As measured by the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), inflation rates in Europe were highest in Turkey, North Macedonia, and Romania as of December 2024.

The FAO vegetable oil Price Index* reached 178.32 index points in June of 2008 during the financial crisis. During the pandemic, the price index rose to 184.56 points in October of 2021. After the start of the war in Ukraine, the index jumped to over 251 points in March of 2022. As of January 2025, the index had declined from the spike in the previous years to 153 points. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page. For further information about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, please visit our dedicated page on the topic.

During the first half of 2023, the average retail price of one liter of gas in the Philippines contracted by 6.6 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. The average retail price of gas in the country grew significantly during the 1st half of 2022. The price of fuel around the world spike in 2022 as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war.