Retail prices of nutritious food rose more in countries with higher COVID-19 case counts

Yan Bai^{1

2

3}, Leah Costlow¹, Alissa Ebel^{1

4}, Sarah Laves^{1

5}, Yurika Ueda^{1

6}, Natalie Volin^{1

7}, Maya Zamek^{1

8}, William A Masters^{9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Friedman School of Nutrition, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA.
² School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P. R. China.
³ The World Bank, Development Data Group, Washington, DC, USA.
⁴ Somerville Homeless Coalition, Somerville, MA, USA.
⁵ IPM Institute of North America, Madison, WI, USA.
⁶ UNICEF, Lilongwe, Malawi.
⁷ International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
⁸ School of Public Health, University of Califonia, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁹ Friedman School of Nutrition, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA. william.masters@tufts.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Economics, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA. william.masters@tufts.edu.

PMID: 37117565
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-022-00502-1

Retail prices of nutritious food rose more in countries with higher COVID-19 case counts

Yan Bai et al. Nat Food. 2022 May.

. 2022 May;3(5):325-330.

doi: 10.1038/s43016-022-00502-1. Epub 2022 May 19.

Authors

Yan Bai^{1

2

3}, Leah Costlow¹, Alissa Ebel^{1

4}, Sarah Laves^{1

5}, Yurika Ueda^{1

6}, Natalie Volin^{1

7}, Maya Zamek^{1

8}, William A Masters^{9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Friedman School of Nutrition, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA.
² School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P. R. China.
³ The World Bank, Development Data Group, Washington, DC, USA.
⁴ Somerville Homeless Coalition, Somerville, MA, USA.
⁵ IPM Institute of North America, Madison, WI, USA.
⁶ UNICEF, Lilongwe, Malawi.
⁷ International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
⁸ School of Public Health, University of Califonia, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁹ Friedman School of Nutrition, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA. william.masters@tufts.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Economics, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA. william.masters@tufts.edu.

PMID: 37117565
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-022-00502-1

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has curtailed lives and livelihoods, leading to price spikes for some foods and declines for others. We compare monthly retail food prices in up to 181 countries from January 2019 to June 2021, test for differences over time and find that average prices rose significantly, especially for more nutritious food groups in countries with higher COVID-19 case counts. Analysis of retail prices by food group complements data on farm commodity prices and overall consumer price indexes, helping to guide policy for resilience and response to shocks.

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References

1. Laborde, D., Martin, W., Swinnen, J. & Vos, R. COVID-19 risks to global food security. Science 369, 500–502 (2020). - DOI
1. World Food Situation: Food Price Index (FAO, 2020).
1. Ali, J. & Khan, W. Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural wholesale prices in India: a comparative analysis across the phases of the lockdown. J. Public Aff. 20, e2402 (2020). - DOI
1. Yu, X., Liu, C., Wang, H. & Feil, J.-H. The impact of COVID-19 on food prices in China: evidence of four major food products from Beijing, Shandong and Hubei provinces. China Agric. Econ. Rev. 12, 445–458 (2020). - DOI
1. de Paulo Farias, D. & de Araújo, F. F. Will COVID-19 affect food supply in distribution centers of Brazilian regions affected by the pandemic?. Trends Food Sci. Technol. 103, 361–366 (2020). - DOI

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Retail prices of nutritious food rose more in countries with higher COVID-19 case counts

Affiliations

Retail prices of nutritious food rose more in countries with higher COVID-19 case counts

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

References

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources