Food prices such as grains and sugar are rising worldwide.

While demand is rising in China, there are concerns about supply shortages due to unseasonable weather in producing countries, which has led to higher prices for cooking oil and sugar in Japan as well.

FAO = The Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index, which is based on the international transaction prices of five items such as grains, meat and sugar, rose 2.4% last month compared to the previous month.



This is the 9th consecutive month of increase, the highest in 6 years and 7 months since July 2014.



International futures prices continue to rise, with soybeans at $ 14.25 per bushel earlier this week, up about 70% from a year ago.



Corn is also up about 45% to $ 5.51 per bushel, and sugar is up about 35% to just over 15 cents per pound.



Experts say the background is the rapid increase in demand for soybeans and corn for feed in China, and unseasonable weather in soybean and sugar producing countries, raising concerns about supply shortages. I will.



In response to the rise in prices, food manufacturers are raising the prices of cooking oil and sugar made from soybeans in Japan as well, which is affecting households.

The sugar production area is drought and the raw material sugar cane is poor.

In Thailand, one of the world's leading sugar producers, drought continues and sugar cane, the raw material, is poorly harvested.



Thailand produces about 10 million tons of sugar annually from sugar cane, and more than 10% of the sugar imported by Japan is from Thailand.



However, this season's sugar cane has been poorly harvested due to low yields.



It is believed that the continued drought meant that there was not enough water to grow.



Farmers with approximately 30 hectares of vineyards in Nakhon Sawan, northern Thailand, have reduced their sugarcane yields per area this season to about half of their usual year.



This farmer has stopped working as a sugarcane farmer and is said to be resistant to drought, and is proceeding with the conversion to cassava, which is the raw material for tapioca.



Farmer Mari Ditosiri said, "The soil in the fields is dry and completely dry. Cassava seems to be more suitable for cultivation, and sugarcane fields are decreasing in this area as well."



Due to lower yields, sugar cane squeezing processes at sugar cane factories in the region ended earlier this month, more than a month earlier than usual, leaving machines shut down.



In Thailand, the sugar cane squeezing process was completed by the end of last month, and sugar makers expect this season to be about 10% less than the previous season when sugar cane squeezing was poor. I will.



"I don't think it's going to be a good year next year because of the drought," said Natapan, deputy CEO of sugar maker "Kasetai." Was there.

In addition to abnormal weather, China's import expansion is also behind food prices

Akio Shibata, president of the Institute for Resources and Food Problems, who is familiar with the world's food situation, said that the background to the rise in food prices is that China is increasing grain imports in addition to factors such as global extreme weather. He added, "China is trying to shift to a mechanism to structurally expand imports. Then, it will become a constant state rather than a temporary increase in imports," he said, and there is concern that price increases will be prolonged. There was.



On top of that, "In addition to rising food prices, sea freight rates are also rising, which also has a large impact on Japan because it causes cost increases and price increases. Even in Japan, prices are already unchanged, but the amount is reduced. , A price increase that can be called a "stealth price increase" is becoming widespread. "