London (CNN Business) - Buying food has gotten increasingly expensive. Unfortunately, going to the supermarket isn’t expected to get much cheaper in 2022.
What’s happening: Pent-up demand, high shipping and fertiliser costs and bad weather could continue to prop up the price of products like corn, cocoa and sugar. That could keep global food prices elevated, even if inflation in other parts of the economy comes down.
“We expect prices to remain at these lofty levels,” Michael Magdovitz, an agricultural commodities analyst at Rabobank, told me.
Breaking it down: The FAO Food Price Index from the United Nations climbed to a 10-year high this year. Disruptions from the pandemic — including labor shortages and a lack of containers for goods — boosted costs for producers just as demand jumped, especially in China.