Highlights:

• Since the last update on April 11, 2024, the agriculture and cereal price indices closed 1 percent higher, and the export price index closed 3 percent higher.
• Domestic food price inflation remains high in low- and middle-income countries.
• According to the latest 2024 edition of the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), nearly 282 million people in 59 countries and territories experienced high levels of acute hunger in 2023 - a worldwide increase of 24 million from the previous year.
• According to the USDA ERS, global wheat ending stocks for the 2023/24 period are anticipated to hit an eight-year low, dropping 0.6 million metric tons (MMT) to 258.3 million metric tons (MMT).
• According to new research published by IFPRI, international fertilizer prices have fallen by 50 percent from their peak in April 2022.
• As highlighted in a recent IFPRI blog, parts of southern Africa have been in the grip of a severe drought since late 2023, exacerbated by the ongoing El Niño Southern Oscillation. This has resulted in plummeting harvests; prompted disaster declarations in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe; and affected countries across the region.