In an apparent confirmation of warnings that climate breakdown could lead to food shortages, research by the consultancy Inverto found steep rises in the prices of a number of food commodities in the year to January that correlated with unexpected weather.
Extreme weather events are expected to lead to volatile food prices throughout 2025, supply chain analysts have said, after cocoa and coffee prices more than doubled over the past year.
“Extreme weather events around the globe will continue to increase in severity and frequency in line with the ongoing rise in global temperature,” said Pete Falloon, a food security expert at the Met Office and University of Bristol.
Inverto said a long-term trend towards more extreme weather events would continue to hit regional crop yields, causing price spikes.
“Last year showed numerous examples of this phenomena playing out in real time, as extreme heat across east Asia drove substantial increases in the price of rice in Japan and vegetables in China,” he said.
