Following the UN’s latest report regarding the impact of global warming evidence from Tridge shows how climate events and changing weather patterns are already impacting food crops and supply. 

Over the last few months, the price of several agricultural products has either soared or plummeted due to extreme weather conditions, adding to the existing stresses of the agriculture industry. 

Here are some of the products that have been significantly impacted by climate change (data sourced and analysed by Tridge’s market intelligence team). 

• Price of Canadian Canola increased by 36% YoY 
• Price of California Lemon tripled in the last six months 
• Price of Spanish Strawberry doubled in previous three months 
• Price of Brazilian Lime halved YoY 
• Price of Polish Apple decreased by 80% YoY 
• Price of UK Spinach decreased by 30% in last three months 

Jinwoo Cheon, market analyst at Tridge comments: “2021 has seen the agricultural industry dealing with many weather anomalies, including abnormally high temperatures, droughts, and the La Nina. Depending on the perishable nature of agricultural products, this has caused prices to either soar or dive, in those durable goods such as commodities have exhibited a surge in prices and products sensitive to quality such as fresh produce saw prices plummet.” 

“Global food prices have spiked for many reasons, including COVID-19, labor shortage, and climate issues. Due to extreme weather conditions, the agriculture supply chain is likely to experience continuous disruptions, leading to long-term price fluctuations in agricultural products across the world. If this trend continues for the next few years, the global society will encounter the issue of “Survival,” unprecedented food shortage, and agflation.

North America 

• According to Tridge price data, lemon prices in California spiked by nearly 300% between March and June 2021. This was due to the massive heatwave that caused lemon shortages in the wholesale market in California, eventually leading to record-high prices at USD 7.72/kg 
• A prolonged drought in Canada has severely affected canola production, raising rapeseed prices from approximately USD 0.39/kg during mid-to-late July last year to USD 0.78/kg during the same period this year, a hundred percent increase. As of July 12, 2021, canola in Canada’s leading spring wheat and canola province, Saskatchewan, was rated 18% good or excellent, a significant drop from 64% in the previous month. 

South America 

• One of the countries most affected by droughts and the La Nina since last September, Brazilian wholesale lime prices exhibited a steep decline since their highest point at USD 1.06/kg on September 7, 2020, recording at USD 0.37/kg, a 65% decrease, in late July. 
• Production of coffee beans in Brazil is expected to decrease by 19% in MY 2021/22 due to continuous droughts. Tridge’s price data has confirmed that wholesale coffee bean prices increased at an average of 58% from late February to late July. 

Europe 

• Although it was initially projected that Europe would experience a bumper crop during the 2020/21 season, climate anomalies have deterred those estimates. After the flooding swept off main harvesting areas in European countries, farms and facilities were hit hard by heavy rains, causing soil erosion issues. 
• Main apple-producing regions in Poland were hit hard by unprecedented heatwaves and floods where the price of fresh apples decreased by 78.8% in late July compared to the same period in 2020. Onion prices in Spain have consistently slipped since March 2021 (EUR 2.43 – 2.41/kg) and hit EUR 1.18/kg in late July. Spinach prices in the UK witnessed a 32.2% drop from USD 2.36/kg in mid-May to EUR 1.6/kg by mid-July. 

Source – https://www.freshplaza.com