Global food prices declined from record highs in 2022, the UN says. Except for these two staples

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says global prices for food commodities like grain and vegetable oil fell last year from record highs in 2022. The agency said Friday that the FAO Food Price Index was 13.7% lower last year than the 2022 average, but its measures of sugar and rice prices growing in that time. The drop in food commodity prices in 2023 comes despite a difficult year for food security around the world. Climate effects like dry weather, flooding and the naturally occurring El Nino phenomenon, combined with fallout from conflicts like the war in Ukraine, bans on food trade and weaker currencies have hurt developing nations especially.