Consumers and businesses around the world are facing rising prices for everything from Mexico’s beloved tortillas to the aluminum cans used by beverage manufacturers.
Inflation has soared since countries emerged from coronavirus lockdowns and Russia invaded Ukraine, with the IMF forecasting global consumer prices to rise 8.3% this year.
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world’s third-largest oil producer, has pushed up oil prices.
The main international North Sea Brent contract reached nearly $140 a barrel and is now below $100.
Prices for pumps followed suit, rising to over €2 per liter in euro area countries and over $5 per gallon in the US before falling in recent weeks. Natural gas prices are also rising, especially in Europe, where electricity prices hit record highs in Germany and France.
Eurozone energy prices rose 38.6% in August from the same month last year, according to revised official data released on Friday.
Rising energy prices affect the economy as a whole, as they affect companies’ production and transportation costs.
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Food prices soared as the war disrupted grain exports from Ukraine, a major supplier of wheat and sunflower oil, to countries around the world.
Allianz said in May that he estimated eurozone pasta prices had risen 19% in the past 18 months. In Canada, another major exporter of wheat, a 500-gram pack fetched CA$3.16 in July, up 60 cents from the same month last year, according to official data.
In Thailand, the price of government-controlled instant noodles rose 17% in August, to 7 baht (20 cents) for the first time in 14 years.
The price of cornmeal, which is used to make tacos and other staple tortillas in Mexico, has risen about 13% year-on-year, contributing to two decades of high inflation.
Brazil’s staple, pinto beans, rose nearly 23% in August compared to the same period last year.
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As the price of grain has risen, so has the cost of feed for cattle, and farmers are raising prices in return.
Pork, China’s most popular meat, was 22% higher in August than a year earlier.
Chinese officials will use strategic pork stockpiles for the second time this year to stabilize prices, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday.
Mince pies are popular in Argentina because of their traditionally low prices, but prices have soared by three quarters in the last 12 months.
The country now boasts the world’s highest inflation rate of 56.4% in her first eight months of the year.
In Europe, poultry prices are rising as farmers struggle with bird flu on top of cost pressures. Wholesale prices in August rose by a third compared to the same month last year.
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