Highlights

• Since the last update on May 18, 2023, the agricultural, cereal, and export price indices closed 4 percent, 4 percent, and 3 percent lower, respectively.

• Domestic food price inflation remains high in most low-, middle-, and high-income countries.

• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warn that food security is likely to deteriorate further in 18 hunger hotspots across 22 countries in the outlook period of June to November 2023.

• A recently published International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) blog examines three factors that will affect global rice markets in the coming months: fertilizer availability for farming, El Niño and its likely impact on rice production, and trade policies of large rice-exporting countries and their impacts.

• The 49th Group of Seven (G7) summit was held from May 19 to 21 in Hiroshima, Japan. G7 leaders and those of invited guests—Australia, Brazil, Comoros, the Cook Islands, India, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Ukraine, and Vietnam—issued the Hiroshima Action Statement for Resilient Global Food Security.

• On May 17, 2023, Russia agreed to a two-month extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal that has allowed Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea to parts of the world facing hunger, boosting global food security.