World food prices jumped to a new record high in March as the war in Ukraine caused turmoil in markets for staples grains and edible oils, the U.N. food agency said on Friday.
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The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks the most globally-traded food commodities, averaged 159.3 points last month versus an upwardly revised 141.4 for February.
The February figure was previously put at 140.7, which was a record at the time.
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Russia and Ukraine are both major exporters of wheat, corn, barley and sunflower oil via the Black Sea, and Moscow's six-week-old invasion of its neighbour has stalled Ukrainian exports.
FAO warned last month that food and feed prices could rise by up to 20% as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, triggering a jump in global malnourishment.
The agency also cut its estimate of world wheat production in 2022 to 784 million tonnes on Friday from a forecast of 790 million last month as it factored in the possibility that at least 20% of Ukraine's winter crop area would not be harvested.
It lowered its projection of global cereals trade in the 2021/22 marketing year as disruption to Black Sea exports were seen as only being partially offset by increased exports from India, the European Union, Argentina and the United States.