News

The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 126.9 points in March 2023, down 2.8 points (2.1 percent) from February, marking the twelfth consecutive monthly decline since reaching its peak one year ago. During the past twelve months since March 2022, the index has fallen by as much as 32.8 points (20.5 percent).

Astarta’s agricultural subsidiaries started the 2023 planting season. Farmers in the Poltava region were the first to begin sowing sugar beet.

The negative impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the ensuing high input costs and food inflation, continue to weigh on agricultural markets and consumers’ purchasing decisions. In addition, large parts of the EU experienced winter droughts after the hot and dry summer of last year, further worsening water availability in regions with already record low water reservoirs. This might lead impacted farmers to substitute away from more water-intensive crop cultures. The current EU macroeconomic forecast is relatively more positive than in autumn 2022, despite uncertainties about energy supply for next winter and recent financial market tensions. High commodity prices last year helped countering high input costs and farm income increased on average, with significant sectorial and regional disparities.

Nearly half of the honey imported into the European Union is suspected of being fake, according to an EU probe.

The research, spearheaded by the European Commission’s Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC), revealed the massive fraud and that many may be buying counterfeit honey labelled as authentic.