Food price history

Explore the price levels (interactive)

Pick a commodity group and a time range. Lines are monthly World Bank price levels in the same unit, so they compare honestly; dashed lines mark dated Warconomy events as reference points only.

Reference events on these charts

• February 24, 2022 — Full-scale invasion begins. Shown as a reference marker — prices moved around this period for many reasons; this is not a claim the event was the sole cause.
• December 1, 2023 — Onset of sustained Red Sea diversions. Shown as a reference marker — prices moved around this period for many reasons; this is not a claim the event was the sole cause.

How to read these charts

• Two kinds of data, never mixed on one axis: FAO indices (unitless, basis 2014-2016=100) and World Bank price levels (nominal US$ per barrel / mmbtu / tonne).
• Each chart states its unit, source, and as-of date; the text summary repeats the key numbers for screen readers.
• Dashed lines are reference events — prices moved around those periods for many reasons; this is not a causal claim.

Food price indices (FAO)

Unitless index, basis 2014-2016 = 100. 1990-01–2026-05.

Commodity price levels (World Bank)

Nominal US$, monthly, from the official World Bank “Pink Sheet” (1960-01–2024-12; workbook updated January 03, 2025). Units differ by commodity — read each chart’s label.

What this can and cannot tell you

• Can: show how international food-commodity prices moved month to month, including around tracked conflict periods.
• Cannot: prove a specific event caused a price move — prices respond to weather, energy, currencies, trade policy, and demand together.
• Cannot: serve as real-time or investment data — values are monthly, source-reported, and revised by FAO.

Source & methodology

Data: FAO Food Price Index (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)), machine-read from the official CSV on June 25, 2026. See the commodity-prices methodology, the source registry, and the food-prices economic-impact page.

Download: /commodities/history/data.json · commodities dashboard · dataset.

Related briefings

Source-reviewed explainers (not live news) that put this page in context.

• Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries: fuel supply, exports and prices — Strikes on refining capacity hit refined fuel output and exports differently from crude production, with sanctions and shadow-fleet shipping shaping where Russian barrels go — a mechanism explainer, not a live damage assessment.
• Iran and the Strait of Hormuz: oil prices and tanker risk — The Strait of Hormuz is the world's most important oil chokepoint; tension there works through a supply-risk premium, war-risk insurance and tanker routing — channels explained here without any claim of live ship tracking.
• Red Sea disruption: shipping costs and commodity prices — Diversions away from the Red Sea and Suez add sea-miles, time and cost to container and tanker voyages. This explains the rerouting, insurance and freight channels, anchored on dated UNCTAD and IMF PortWatch assessments.
• Russia–Ukraine war: food and fertilizer prices — Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of grains, oilseeds, fertilizer and the gas that fertilizer is made from. This explains the grain-export, fertilizer and energy-input channels, anchored on FAO and World Bank price history.
• Why wars affect energy prices — Wars move energy prices through supply risk, transport chokepoints, storage, insurance, sanctions and — above all — expectations. This evergreen explainer walks each channel and links to the underlying benchmark data.
• Why wars affect food prices — Wars reach the dinner table through grain exports, fertilizer, energy input costs and shipping disruption. This evergreen explainer walks each channel and links to FAO and World Bank price history.
• Gas, LNG and war: power bills and fertilizer costs — Natural gas links war-driven supply shocks to electricity prices and to fertilizer, which is made from gas. This explains the power-market and fertilizer-cost channels, anchored on World Bank gas price levels and EIA data.
• Sudan's war: Red Sea security, food insecurity and regional trade — Sudan's war intersects a major shipping corridor and a large-scale food-security emergency. This explains the trade-route, humanitarian and regional-spillover channels, pointing to UN and FAO/WFP situation reporting rather than asserting figures.
• Why wars raise shipping insurance and transport costs — War-risk insurance, rerouting and longer voyages raise the cost of moving goods through or around conflict zones. This evergreen explainer walks the insurance, freight and rerouting channels and links to the maritime data behind them.