Vegetable Oils Drive Global Food Price Increases Through May 2022

Vegetable oils led the increase in global food prices due to disrupted supplies from Ukraine.

As is known, this war-torn country is one of Europe's largest producers of sunflower oil, supplying vegetable oil to several countries, including India, China, the Netherlands, and Spain.

According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data, the vegetable oil price index rose 28.46% to 229.3 points in May 2022 from 175.51 at the end of last year (year to date/ytd). This increase in vegetable oil prices was the highest among the four other global food commodities this year.

The next highest increase in food prices was cereals (grains), which rose 23.42% (ytd), followed by meat prices, which rose 9.88% (ytd), dairy products by 9.8% (ytd), and sugar by 3.2% (ytd).

Meanwhile, the average global commodity price this year has increased by 17.73% (ytd) and also increased by 22.85% (yoy).

The following is the year-on-year (yoy) increase in global food prices in May 2022:

Average global food price: 22.85%

* Vegetable oils: 31.12%
* Cereals (grains): 29.70%
* Dairy products: 16.90%
* Meat: 13.61%
* Sugar: 12.64%