SANEM will arrange a session on “Global food markets: Recent trends and drivers of price developments” on 13 September 2022 from 2 pm- 3:30 pm Indian Standard Time (GMT+5:30). Dr Upali Wickramasinghe, Senior Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Italy, will deliver a presentation in the session and Dr Nihal Pitigala, Lead Economist, WBD, will moderate the session.

The session will be a part of the “Bay of Bengal Regional Trade and Connectivity Capacity Building Program“. South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), in collaboration with the USAID and U.S. Department of State-funded Cross-Border Infrastructure and Connectivity project (CBIC), has been conducting this program since October 2021.

The session will be conducted over Zoom. SANEM invites government officials, academics, researchers, officials of business associations, development workers, journalists and interested professionals to join the session. To join the session, please fill up the google form: https://forms.gle/g2KWdM8buHWmcU556

Context of the session: The latest release of the FAO Food Price Index, published on 2 Sep 2022, shows that world food prices have fallen for the fifth month in a row in August. While international food prices remain high in historical terms, even the recent declines in prices have not led to better access to food or lower prices at the retail level. The limited pass-through of price declines to local prices is due to several factors, including the enduring high costs of processing and transportation, logistics and the exchange rates of currencies against the US dollar for many low-income food importing countries. At the same time, the recent decreases in world prices do not mean market stability. Global food markets are still subject to uncertainties and volatility, which relate mainly to future developments in the energy market and fertilizer prices, weather conditions, and policy reactions, especially by exporting countries. Continued high energy and gas prices reduce fertilizer affordability and increase production costs, adding a grave challenge to production in 2022-23. Therefore, we must keep a close watch on these developments, as the implications for food security could be severe for some low-income food importing countries. Against this backdrop, the presentation will cover recent international food price developments and their underlying factors from a global point of view, allowing the policymakers to develop a broader perspective that may help tackle country-specific challenges.

Profile of the resource person: Dr Upali Wickramasinghe is Senior Economist and Team Leader, Basic Food Commodities of the Markets and Trade Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. Before joining FAO, he served as Regional Adviser on Poverty Reduction and Food Security for Asia and the Pacific in ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), Economic Adviser to the SAARC Secretariat, and Professor of Economics, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. His current fields of interest include global food commodity markets and price developments, sustainable agricultural development, and market and household resilience to shocks. He holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.