PARIS: Global food prices rose in September at their fastest rate since March 2022, with sugar prices surging as dry weather and fires damaged Brazilian sugarcane crops, the Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Friday.

The FAO Food Price Index reached 124.4 points in September, a three-percent increase from August.

But it remained 22.4 per cent below the peak reached in March 2022 in the wake of Russia’s invasion of agricultural powerhouse Ukraine.

The index tracks monthly changes in international prices of a basket of food commodities.

Its sugar price index surged 10.4 percent in September.

“Worsening crop prospects in Brazil, due to prolonged dry weather and fires that damaged sugarcane fields in late August, were the main drivers of the increase in global sugar prices,” the FAO said.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2024