Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA): Monthly Report on Food Price Trends

International prices of maize surged in January amid shrinking global export supplies and large purchases by China (mainland). Prices of wheat and barley also increased significantly, supported by strong import demand. Export prices of rice increased for a second successive month reflecting robust demand from Asian and African buyers, combined with tight supplies in Thailand and Viet Nam, two major exporting countries.
In East Africa, prices of coarse grains generally followed mixed trends in January. In most countries, prices were around or below their year-earlier levels, except in the Sudan and South Sudan, where despite some seasonal declines, they were still at near-record highs, underpinned by insufficient supplies and severe macro-economic difficulties, including continuous and sustained depreciation of the local currencies.
In Central America, despite the ongoing second season harvest, prices of beans increased further in January and were well above their year-earlier levels, especially in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, reflecting crop losses caused by the two consecutive hurricanes in November 2020.