Economy

2024-01-05 11:50:45

economy

Updated on 01/05/24 at 12:50 p.m.

The Food and Agriculture Organization announced that food prices fell by 13.7% in 2023 compared to 2022. Particularly for vegetable oils and cereals

Global food prices fell by 13.7% in 2023 compared to the previous year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said on Friday (FAO). The food price index calculated by the FAO, which tracks the variation in international prices of a basket of commodities, is down 15.4% over the year for cereals, “reflecting global markets well stocked”, contrasting with the 2022 price surge linked to the war in Ukraine.

Wheat, corn and soybean oil in the lead

This decline is all the more notable for cereals, wheat and corn in the leadthat the FAO rice price index increased by 21% over this period, largely due to concerns regarding the potential impact of the El Niño weather phenomenon on global production and due to export restrictions imposed by India.

FAO price index and commodity price index, until April 2022 – Sophie RAMIS, Erin CONROY / AFP

The biggest drop comes from vegetable oils, which fall by 32.7% in 2023, compared to 2022. A decline which continues in December, “soybean oil in particular being affected by a slowdown in demand from the sector biodiesel as well as by the improvement of weather conditions in the main growing areas of Brazil,” specifies the FAO.

Sugar production remains stable

Sugar is the only production to escape the general annual decline with an increase of 26.7%. But it also finally began to decline: in December, the index was down 16.6% compared to November, reaching its “lowest level in nine months”. The fall in sugar prices is “mainly due to the sustained pace of production in Brazil, as well as the reduction in the use of sugar cane for the production of ethanol in India”, underlines the UN organization.

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2024-01-05 11:52:53

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2024-01-05 07:42:21

Former South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius was released from prison on Friday, almost eleven years following the murder of his partner, Reeva Steenkamp. He was placed on parole.

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2024-01-05 10:21:11

By Le Figaro with AFP

Published 13 minutes ago, Updated now

“Bernadett Vejkey, marketing manager at start-up Addionics, holds a porous, three-dimensional copper anode sheet, developed for electric vehicle batteries, in London, December 5, 2023.” NICK CAREY / REUTERS

The British automotive market grew last year but is expected to remain permanently below its level before the Covid-19 pandemic, due in particular to teleworking and the energy transition, according to the sector organization SMMT. The number of new vehicle registrations increased by around 17.9% last year, to 1.9 million new vehicles, according to preliminary figures from the SMMT. What organization director Mike Hawes called “very positive“, particularly with regard to the “relatively negative economic context».

The year-on-year increase mainly comes from corporate vehicle fleets (+38.7%) compared to 2022 marked by a disrupted supply chain and deliveries. Conversely, vehicles purchased by individuals stagnated at 818,000 units, which Mike Hawes attributes to rising costs of living and interest rates.

Read alsoPlastic Omnium adds electric batteries to its catalog

Lack of financial incentives

Despite the increase in new registrations over one year, the market remains 17.7% below its pre-pandemic level. Mike Hawes does not expect demand for new cars to return to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon, due to the rise in remote working which reduces the need for transportation to get to work for a lot of British people. Furthermore, the number of electric cars reached a record level last year at 315,000 units but their market share fell to 16.5% last year compared to 16.6% in 2022. The SMMT calls the government to halve the 10% VAT on new electric vehicles for individuals for the next three years to try to boost sales.

Mike Hawes argues that the market share of new electric vehicles in the UK is “probably in the lower half of Europe“, and lagging behind countries like France, Germany, Ireland and Portugal, which he says is due to a lack of financial incentives. For this year, the SMMT anticipates a meager increase of around 3% in the number of new vehicles registered in the United Kingdom to 1.97 million. In Germany, the German automobile market saw its overall registrations increase in 2023, but the dynamic of electrified vehicles, very strong in 2022, slowed down significantly In the United States, sales of new vehicles benefited from strong demand in 2023 , thanks in particular to attractive commercial offers, but remain below pre-pandemic levels and should remain so this year.

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