Experts raise red flags over soaring prices for staple food item — here's what's happening

When it comes to the price of sugar, things aren't always sweet. Extreme weather conditions have led to fluctuations in prices and roller coaster stock prices within a matter of weeks, Inkl reported.

What's happening?

In early August, sugar prices reached a high point in both New York and London. The primary cause, Inkl explained, was an update from Brazil's government crop forecasting agency, Conab.

After a growing season plagued by excessive heat and drought, Brazil's sugarcane farmers were faced with smaller crop yields than Conab had originally anticipated. This reduction in supply — a 9.2% decline from the previous year — drove up prices and raised doubts among sugar stockholders.

This impact is no surprise, considering that Brazil is the biggest producer and exporter of sugar in the world. However, high sugar yields from India, the US, Thailand, Europe, and China are all keeping prices from totally skyrocketing — at least for now.

Why are fluctuating sugar prices so concerning?

Whether you invest in sugar stocks or you simply buy sugar — or products containing it — at the grocery store, these price changes will likely affect your own budget in some way.

But the broader issue goes beyond just sugar. Our changing climate is affecting nearly all types of food production on the planet — from fishing to growing produce to raising livestock. 

As our atmosphere warms, it's changing the weather: making droughts more severe, wildfires hotter, storms more intense, and everything more erratic. This spells bad news for crops, which are often sensitive to changes in temperature, humidity, light, and other atmospheric conditions. Warming oceans have also changed the distribution of different fish stocks, while wildfire smoke has been linked to an uptick in illness among cattle and dairy herds. 

What's being done to keep prices low?

Broadly, anything that slows or reduces global heating will be beneficial in keeping food prices more stable in the long term. Many of those actions can be driven by consumers, such as divesting from the pollutive fast fashion industry or, conversely, investing in renewable energy. However, a lion's share of the necessary action will need to happen through the proactive changes made by polluting corporations and enhanced regulation from governments.

On the consumer side, you can also stretch each dollar further at the grocery store — regardless of price fluctuations — by planning ahead and shopping smarter to waste less.

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