World Food Commodity Prices Rise for Third Straight Month

May 08, 2026

World food commodity prices rose for a third consecutive month in April, as elevated energy costs and disruptions tied to the U.S.-Iran conflict continued to ripple through global grain, oilseed and food markets, said the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations on Friday.

The FAO Food Price Index – which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a basket of globally traded food commodities – averaged 130.7 points in April, up 1.6% from March and 2% above year-earlier levels. However, the index remains below its high of 159.3 points in March 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Despite the disruptions linked to the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, global agrifood systems continue to show resilience,” said FAO Chief Economist Máximo Torero. “Cereal prices have increased only moderately so far, supported by relatively strong stocks and adequate supplies from previous seasons. Vegetable oils, however, are experiencing stronger price increases, driven largely by higher oil prices, which are increasing demand for biofuels and putting additional pressure on vegetable oil markets.”

Vegetable oils posted the strongest increase among the major food categories in April. The FAO vegetable oil price index jumped 5.9% from March to its highest level since July 2022, reflecting higher palm, soy, sunflower and rapeseed oil prices. Palm oil rose for a fifth straight month, supported by stronger expected biofuel demand, policy incentives in producing countries and higher crude oil prices. Concerns about lower Southeast Asian production in the months ahead added to the upward pressure.

The FAO cereal price index rose 0.8% in April and was 0.4% higher than a year earlier, with gains across most major cereals. Wheat prices increased 0.8%, supported by drought concerns in parts of the U.S., the risk of below-average rainfall in Australia and expectations of reduced wheat plantings in 2026. High fertilizer prices, driven by elevated energy costs and disruptions linked to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, are expected to push some farmers toward less fertilizer-intensive crops, the FAO said.

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Video: Western Canadian Agriculture: Hard Times Made the World's Best Farmers

Western Canadian agriculture produced the most advanced farmers in the world not through abundance but through adversity. The crow rate fell. The wheat price went nowhere. The brown envelopes stopped.

When the subsidies disappeared, the bad farmers left and the good ones stayed. And the ones who stayed could not just grow wheat anymore. They started growing lentils and canola and peas and flax and faba beans. They built crop rotation. They got serious about agronomy because there was no government backstop. That process produced the Western Canadian agriculture Dennis Bulani describes in this clip: the most advanced, most educated farming culture in the world.

His contrast with Iowa corn and soybean farmers is sharp. At a DeKalb farmer meeting in Okoboji, Iowa, he asked what crop rotation they ran. Beans on corn stubble, corn on bean stubble. How do you fertilize? The co-op agronomist handles it. Have you considered other crops? No need. We make so much money on corn and soybeans. Western Canadian agriculture was never allowed that comfort. And now those Iowa farmers are watching soybean markets lock up with China and corn prices slide, and they do not have the agronomy knowledge or the research base to pivot. Western Canadian farmers adapted on a dime because they had done it before.

Dennis also makes the case that Western Canadian agriculture keeps adapting in real time. Low commodity prices over the past year have pushed growers to look seriously at precision spot-spray technology. He knows a neighbor who bought a sprayer with the seeing-eye system and sprayed only 80 out of 320 acres. As a chemical retailer Dennis acknowledges that will affect his sales. He supports it anyway, because if it advances Canadian agriculture and makes farmers money, that is a good outcome.

The lesson Dennis draws from the tale of two farms: continuous improvement is the only durable strategy. When canola was $22 a bushel some growers went to Arizona instead of the Crop Production Show. When the price came down those same growers came back to the research and the discipline. Products do not go on Rack Petroleum's shelves unless they pass a replicated trial first. That is what Western Canadian agriculture built through hard times: farmers who do the work whether the times demand it or not.

Dennis Bulani is CEO of Rack Petroleum and Ultimate Yield in Biggar, Saskatchewan. Dan Aberhart hosts GTF Productions, Western Canadian Agriculture's foremost live briefing platform and its foremost AI training platform for ag operators