Food price inflation remains high: comment

"Although overall inflation has come down slightly, food price inflation has stubbornly held at 3.1%. For many commodities, this bears the fingerprints of climate change.

"Chocolate price inflation is up from 14.1% last month to 16.5% this month. In year to date (YTD) inflation, it’s up from 8.9% this time last year. West Africa – where the majority of the world’s cocoa is grown – has been pummelled by climate impacts since 2023, with prices surging 400% last year [2]. This caused the price of Valentine’s Day chocolate to skyrocket last month [3], and may well hit families in the pocket again when they go to buy their Easter eggs.

"Coffee is also in the midst of an inflationary spike. Though down on last month, it’s massively up from a year ago (0.1% in Feb 2024 to 8.6% in Feb 2025), largely due to extreme temperatures and erratic rainfall in producer countries like Brazil and Vietnam [4].

"Climate change is not a thing of the future; it’s happening now. Until we get to net zero emissions, we will see increasing volatility in our food system, as the stable climate our crops and livestock are adapted to thrive in is fast disappearing."