UN warns: World faces new wave of food price hikes
FAO chief economist Maximo Torero tells Reuters that wars in Iran and Ukraine, coupled with El Niño, are creating a perfect storm of higher costs and lower yields.
FAO chief economist Maximo Torero tells Reuters that wars in Iran and Ukraine, coupled with El Niño, are creating a perfect storm of higher costs and lower yields.
The world is on the brink of a new wave of food inflation, warns Maximo Torero, chief economist of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, August 5, 2026, he highlighted that the wars in Iran and Ukraine, along with the El Niño weather phenomenon, are creating a combination that will inevitably lead to higher prices for consumers worldwide. Although Croatia was not directly mentioned in the report, the global rise in food and energy prices will inevitably spill over to Croatian consumers through import prices.
Although food prices, which were a key driver of global inflation in 2022, have been relatively mild so far in 2026, Torero predicts that this lull is temporary. "I expect commodity prices to start rising more now... and food prices will start to rise by the end of the year, and next year they will certainly rise more," he said.
