G20 Member States Face Pressure from Food Price Inflation: Who's Hit Hardest?

Global food prices, which have been steadily rising, have burdened the world's population. According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data, the global food price index stood at 157.4 in May 2022.

This figure represents a 22.85% increase year-on-year. Contributing factors to the rise in food prices include increases in the vegetable oil price index and cereal prices. The vegetable oil price index rose by 31.12% year-on-year, and cereal prices increased by 29.7% year-on-year.

Pressure from food price inflation was also felt in G20 member countries. Turkey recorded the highest food price inflation among G20 members. According to Tradingeconomics data, Turkey's food price inflation reached 91.6% year-on-year in May 2022, up from 89.1% year-on-year the previous month.

The second-highest inflation among G20 countries was experienced by Argentina, at 62.1% year-on-year until April 2022. This was followed by Russia with 20.05% year-on-year food price inflation, Brazil with 13.51% year-on-year, Mexico with 12.79% year-on-year, Germany with 11.1% year-on-year, and the United States with 10.1% year-on-year (all figures as of April 2022).

The G20 country with the lowest food price inflation was China, at only 2.3% year-on-year. This was followed by France at 2.9% year-on-year, and Japan at 4% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's inflation for food, beverages, and tobacco was 5.62% year-on-year in May 2022. More specifically, domestic food inflation was 5.82% year-on-year.