World food prices hit record high in 2022 despite December fall

PARIS (Reuters) - World food prices eased in December marking the ninth consecutive monthly fall, but gained more than 14% in 2022 compared to the previous year, to reach the highest since records began, the U.N. food agency said on Friday. The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 132.4 points last month compared with a revised 135.00 points for November. The November figure was previously given as 135.7 points. For 2022 as a whole, the benchmark index averaged 143.7 points, up 18 po...