The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 143.7 points in 2022, up 14.3% from 2021, and the highest since records started in 1990, the agency said on Friday.

The index had already gained 28% in 2021 from the previous year as the world economy recovered from the impact of the pandemic.

(Cover: combines harvest wheat in a field in the Rostov Region, Russia, July 7, 2022. /Reuters)