Global food commodity prices rose for the first time in months, as trade disruptions of grain and extreme weather fuel supply concerns worldwide.

The United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said Friday that its global Food Price Index rose 1.3 percent in July compared with the previous month. The report said it was driven by higher costs for rice and vegetable oil. The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index rose 12.1 percent from June after seven months of consecutive declines.

The FAO Food Price Index tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities. It was the first uptick since April, when higher sugar prices bumped the index up slightly for the first time in a year.

Hu Bingchuan, research fellow at the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said there were two main reasons for the rebound in global food prices in July.

Hu analyzed that the termination of the UN-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative added to the panic in global food markets, pushing up food prices. He added that many places across the world experienced extreme weather in July, denting people's expectations of grain production.

Hu noted that the overall supply of global agricultural products remains positive as the monthly index is still down almost 12 percent from July 2022, but disruptions of supply chains caused by regional conflicts may struck the food security of low-income countries.

Fresh threats are emerging

Against a global backdrop of rising food prices, several countries recently announced restrictions or a ban on rice exports to ensure the supply in the domestic market, such as India, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Russia.

India is an important rice exporter in the world, and its rice exports totaled about 22 million tonnes in 2022, accounting for more than 40 percent of the world's rice exports. About 10 million tonnes of rice will be affected by the export ban announced on July 20.

BV Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association, pointed out that African countries, such as Benin and Senegal, will be particularly affected by India's rice export restrictions.

"The UAE and Russia are not major exporters and traders of rice in the international market, but their decisions will increase the panic in the market, and push up the global rice price in the short term," said Hu.

The FAO All Rice Price Index increased by 2.8 percent on the month and 19.7 percent on the year, the highest since September 2011. The FAO warned that the upward pressure of rice prices raises substantial food security concerns for a large swathe of the world population, especially those that are most poor and who dedicate a larger share of their incomes to purchase food.

The FAO added that export restrictions can bear adverse consequences on production, consumption and prices that last beyond the duration of their implementation and risk exacerbating high food domestic inflation in many countries.

"For developing countries, especially the least-developed countries, which are mainly dependent on food imports, these restrictions will increase the cost of food imports, worsen the poor's access to food, and lead to famine and other humanitarian crises," said Hu.

Calling for solutions

In July 2022, Russia and Ukraine signed separately with Türkiye and the UN the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed Ukraine to export its grain and other agricultural products from its Black Sea ports. The deal had been renewed three times, but it collapsed after Russia's withdrawal last month.

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to continue the grain deal, saying its long-term shutdown "will not benefit anyone" and the low-income countries in need of grain will suffer the most.

Putin told Erdogan that the extension of the agreement was meaningless without the implementation of the part that concerned Russia and that Russia would return to the deal "as soon as the West fulfills all its obligations" outlined in the agreement.

Speaking during a UN Security Council open debate on famine and conflict-induced global food insecurity on Thursday, China's permanent representative to the UN Zhang Jun said that the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the memorandum of understanding on Russia's grain and fertilizer exports had had a positive impact on maintaining global food security, adding that China hopes that all relevant parties can intensify dialogue and consultation to meet each other halfway, and help restore the package agreement as soon as possible.

Zhang said that food insecurity is closely related to the longstanding, unjust and unreasonable food production and trade system and the global governance system as a whole. 

"The international community should address both the symptoms and root causes, improve rules and regulations, and take comprehensive measures to achieve the goal of zero hunger in 2030 as planned," he said.

(With input from agencies)