Latest news with #MaximillianKotz
CNN
22-07-2025
- Business
- CNN
Hershey says it is hiking chocolate prices
Your Kit Kat bar and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are officially getting pricier. Hershey told its retail partners it is raising prices by a percentage in the 'lower double-digit range' over what its chocolate products cost over the past couple years, a company spokesperson confirmed to CNN. The culprit: high cocoa prices. Bloomberg first reported the increase. Cocoa futures rose a whopping 178% in 2024 after a 61% increase in 2023, according to data from FactSet. That's because Ghana and Ivory Coast account for almost 60% of the world's cocoa production, and the region has been hit by poor harvests due to weather exacerbated by climate change. For example, a study led by Maximillian Kotz of the Barcelona Supercomputer Center found an early 2024 heat wave hit there was made 4 degrees Celsius hotter due to climate change. Cocoa prices that April soared 280%. Cocoa futures are currently trading for $8,156 per metric ton. Although that's 30% lower than the record high of $12,646 per metric ton in December 2024, it's still significantly higher than it was two years ago. Hershey noted in its statement that the price increase is not related to tariff or trade policies. In its earnings call in May, Hershey said it anticipated $15 million to $20 million in tariff costs in the second quarter of the year. The price increase 'reflects the reality of rising ingredient costs including the unprecedented cost of cocoa. (For years,) we've worked hard to absorb these costs and continue to make 75% of our product portfolio available to consumers for under $4.00,' a company spokesperson said. In its earnings call in May, the company said it would also adjust its 'price pack architecture,' which basically means reducing the amount of product in a package, more colloquially known as 'shrinkflation.' The benefit of this is 'it's not a direct price point increase, but rather, it's kind of a combination of sizing and price, which can tend to offer perhaps a better value perception for consumers,' Michele Buck, Hershey's CEO, said in an earnings call in May. Swiss chocolatier Lindt said in 2024 that it raised its prices and expected to continue into 2025, due to a 'challenging year characterized by record-high cocoa costs, substantial price increases, and weakened consumer sentiment.' John Towfighi, Lianne Kolirin and Erika Tulfo contributed to this report.
Euronews
22-07-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Global food prices surge as heat, drought and rain disrupt crops
Food prices in Europe and around the world have risen sharply in recent years, in a worrying trend for consumers. While higher production costs and the war in Ukraine have fuelled some of the price hikes, extreme weather events have also played a significant role, according to new research. A study published on Monday highlighted 16 food items across 18 countries - including British potatoes and Spanish olive oil - that have become more expensive as a result of unprecedented heat, drought or rainfall between 2022 and 2024. Its authors say these examples highlight the ongoing societal risks posed by the impacts of unmitigated climate change on the food system. 'Until we get to net-zero emissions, extreme weather will only get worse, and it's already damaging crops and pushing up the price of food all over the world,' says Maximillian Kotz, Marie-Curie post-doctoral fellow at BSC and lead author of the study. Heat, drought and rain drive spikes in food prices Recent years have seen numerous abnormal weather events that would have been unprecedented prior to 2020. 2024 was the hottest year on record, with global temperatures exceeding 15°C above preindustrial climate conditions for the first time and records broken across large parts of Earth's surface. Heavy rain lashed the UK between September and December 2023, while areas of Pakistan and Australia suffered disastrous floods in 2022. The new study, published in Environmental Research Letters, has now linked these extreme weather phenomena to spikes in food prices. The research was conducted by an interdisciplinary team from six European research institutes, including the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) and University of Aberdeen and the Food Foundation, alongside the European Central Bank (ECB). It was released ahead of the United Nations Food Systems Summit, which will be co-hosted by Ethiopia and Italy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 27 to 29 July. Climate change is making British potatoes and Spanish olive oil more expensive The study investigated examples of food price spikes associated with heat, drought and heavy rain across 18 countries over a two-year period from 2022 to 2024. Extreme weather phenomena can destroy growing crops and severely impact yields. Two European food items were included in the research. In the UK, potato prices increased 22 per cent from January to February 2024 due to extreme winter rainfall. 'Last year, the UK had its third-worst arable harvest on record, and England its second worst, following extreme rainfall that scientists said was made about 10 times more likely and 20 per cent more intense by climate change,' says Amber Sawyer, analyst at the UK's ECIU. 'But it's not just that. British farmers have been yo-yoing between extremes for the past few years.' Sawyer adds that they've gone from having to contend with extreme heat in 2022, when temperatures reached 40°C for the first time, to extreme rain in late 2023 and early 2024, both of which ruined their crops. And now, they've just faced the warmest spring since records began and the sixth driest. 'For them, climate change isn't a distant warning: it's a reality they're living every day.' Across Italy and Spain, olive oil prices shot up 50 per cent year-on-year in January 2024 following severe drought in 2022 and 2023. Hotter, drier weather saw olive oil production in Spain - which is responsible for 40 per cent of the world's supply - fall by 50 per cent in 2022. High temperatures in the spring blossoming season destroyed many olive trees, and the few surviving fruits grew small and thin because of the lack of water. This May was the world's second warmest ever recorded, exceeded only by May 2024, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Parts of northwestern Europe saw their lowest precipitation and soil moisture levels since at least 1979. Farmers across northern Europe have voiced fears for their crops, with unusually dry weather delaying the sprouting of wheat and corn. Extreme weather sees price spikes for rice, coffee and cocoa Food production in other parts of the world has also been affected by extreme weather, with knock-on effects on domestic and global markets. Heatwaves across East Asia during 2024 led to unprecedented monthly temperatures across virtually all of South Korea and Japan, as well as large parts of China and India. Government statistics indicate that these events resulted in substantial increases in the price of Korean cabbage (70 per cent higher in September 2024 compared to September 2023) and Japanese rice (48 per cent higher in September 2024 compared to September 2023). With California accounting for over 40 per cent of US vegetable production, unprecedented drought across California and Arizona in 2022 contributed to an 80 per cent year-on-year increase in US vegetable producer prices by November 2022. Ghana and the Ivory Coast produce nearly 60 per cent of global cocoa. Record monthly temperatures across the majority of both countries in February 2024, on top of a prolonged drought in the prior year, led to increases in global market prices of cocoa of around 300 per cent by April 2024 compared to the previous year. Similar effects were observed for coffee following heatwaves and drought in Vietnam and Brazil in 2024. Extreme weather threatens food security and public health The study highlights how these climate-driven food price spikes can also aggravate public health risks and social unrest. Rising food prices have direct implications for food security, particularly for low-income households. 'These effects can be strongly regressive given the substantial disparities in the share of income spent on food by low- and high-income households,' the researchers write. 'The fact that larger price increases occur in hotter and typically poorer countries will further amplify these effects.' Furthermore, price increases shift consumer spending towards cheaper, often less nutritious options. This means climate-induced price increases could exacerbate the health problems deriving from malnutrition and a range of chronic diet-related conditions, including coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many cancers. The scientists also note that food price inflation associated with climate extremes may come to bear increasing political relevance, with anecdotal evidence from across history often citing food price increases as a precursor to political unrest and social upheaval. The report suggests that high rates of inflation can even directly alter election outcomes in modern democracies. 'People are noticing, with rising food prices number two on the list of climate impacts they see in their lives, second only to extreme heat itself,' Kotz notes, adding that it was clear the cost of living had played a role in last year's US election. The price of food was listed as a key election issue during both the UK and US elections in 2024 and the elections in Argentina in 2023. Urgent need for adaptation and resilience The study concludes by urging the need for rapid adaptation and resilience to bolster food security. It proposes seasonal to multi-annual climate predictions, which may offer farmers early warning of short-term exposure to climate extremes and their impact on yields. 'At the producer-level, timely information on climate conditions can enable optimisation of crop choices or scheduling to limit exposure and impacts,' the scientists write. Agricultural adaptation strategies for the long term will also be vital, they say. While crop switching and irrigation are widely discussed as a potential solution, challenges in their implementation have also been raised. 'This highlights the resource, economic and potentially political constraints which may often impede adaptation strategies, an area requiring careful consideration by research and policymakers to identify effective adaptation strategies,' the authors write.
Vancouver Sun
21-07-2025
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
From potatoes to cocoa and coffee, severe weather spikes food prices worldwide, study finds
In 2021, crops withered as Western Canadian farmers faced the worst drought in 19 years. Wheat stocks dropped 38.7 per cent year over year in its wake. By April 2022, food manufacturers were paying more than double what they were in 2020, and that cost had trickled down to consumers. According to Statistics Canada , shoppers spent more on bread (+12.2 per cent), pasta (+19.6 per cent) and cereals (+13.9 per cent) than they had the year prior. This summer, conditions are worse for farmers in southwestern Saskatchewan. Some are comparing growing conditions to the ' Dirty Thirties ,' an extended drought that ravaged crops on the Prairies. Hit with wildfires, heat waves and drought, several rural municipalities have declared states of emergency, CTV News reports. Discover the best of B.C.'s recipes, restaurants and wine. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of West Coast Table will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The impact of severe weather on Canadian wheat prices is far from an isolated case. From Japanese rice to Spanish olive oil , countries around the world have experienced similar food price spikes resulting from extreme weather events, highlights new research by a team of international scientists led by Maximillian Kotz, a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center . Published in Environmental Research Letters , the study investigated 16 foods in 18 countries over two years (2022-2024). It found that foods affected by climatic extremes (heat, drought or floods) raised prices for consumers, contributed to overall inflation and could trigger societal risks. In 2023, Kotz led a statistical analysis for the European Central Bank examining the impact of increased temperatures on inflation. The researchers studied a global dataset of monthly consumer price indexes over the last 30 years to understand how prices respond to shifting conditions. 'What we found is very strong evidence that abnormally high temperatures drive increases in the price of food and overall inflation, and that therefore, under future climate change, with heat extremes intensifying, we're going to be expecting to see more and more of these kind of increases in consumer price indexes, broadly,' Kotz said in a media briefing on July 16, adding that these findings were the starting point for the new study. While their econometric analysis confirmed that severe weather results in higher food prices, changes in consumer price indexes typically happen slowly. In contrast, the cost of specific foods can spike within one to two months of extraordinarily high temperatures or droughts. 'What's been really interesting for us scientifically is that over the last year, what we've started to see is a number of examples from specific countries where climatic extremes have caused substantial spikes in the price of specific food goods. So, not just looking at the level of an aggregate consumer price index, but for specific goods.' For example, in a phenomenon dubbed 'heatflation,' South Korean cabbage prices rose 70 per cent last year amid hot weather and drought. With water temperatures rising, seafood prices also increased due to fewer catches. The researchers began their investigations by looking at media reports from 2020 to 2025, in which industry specialists and producers documented changes in food prices. They found instances around the world. 'Compared to our analysis with the European Central Bank, that was very much a statistical approach, this was more of a narrative-based approach, relying on these experts on the ground to connect food price spikes with adverse climatic conditions. And we can see that there's a broad global context for this happening in recent years that extends all the way from East Asia through to Europe and also to North America.' After finding evidence that food price shocks associated with extreme heat, drought or heavy precipitation are widespread, the researchers analyzed the climatic conditions driving them and compared them to historical patterns. Following a May 2024 heatwave in India , for example, onion and potato prices increased by 89 and 81 per cent respectively in the second quarter of the year. In California and Arizona, vegetable prices jumped by 80 per cent in November 2022 after a drought. Given that the U.S. supplies 67 per cent of Canada's vegetable imports and 36 per cent of fruit imports, according to Kushank Bajaj , a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia (who wasn't involved in the study) and co-creator of Canada Food Flows , the impact on consumers clearly stretches across borders. The price fluctuations of commodities such as coffee, cocoa and olive oil travel even further. In Ivory Coast and Ghana, global cocoa prices soared 280 per cent in April 2024 following a heatwave two months earlier. A team of international scientists found that this 'dangerous humid heat' was roughly four degrees hotter due to climate change. In Vietnam, the world's biggest exporter of robusta coffee, prices increased 100 per cent in September 2024 after an August heatwave. And in Brazil, the leading exporter of arabica, prices were 55 per cent higher in August 2024 following a 2023 drought. 'What we were quite interested to see was that, particularly for East Asia, last summer, really, across the continent, from India to China, Korea, Japan, there were these spikes in the price of food happening as a result of temperatures that were completely unprecedented from a historical perspective,' said Kotz. The researchers also investigated the potential societal impacts of climate-induced food price spikes, including food security and public health. When food prices go up, fruit and vegetable consumption is 'very vulnerable,' underscored study co-author Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation . 'Food-insecure households are much more likely to report cutting back on fruit and veg purchases compared to food-secure households,' said Taylor. 'That really, really matters for health, because fruit and vegetables are sort of health-giving, if you like. They are massively important for immunity, but they also create long-term protections from a whole range of chronic conditions.' In addition to contributing to overall inflation, the authors identify political unrest as another potential societal risk. 'Our paper is really a call to action for us to consider these wider effects of food price increases in response to climate change for our societies more widely, as these effects are going to continue to become worse in the future,' said Kotz. A figure in the study maps the 16 examples of climate-induced food price spikes since 2022, colour coded by degree and type of event (heat, drought and floods). 'If you looked at Max's global picture, what you'd see through the eyes of an economist is well-functioning markets,' said Raj Patel, a member of the IPES-Food panel and a research professor at the University of Texas at Austin , who wasn't involved in the study. 'The weather turns, the crop becomes less likely to come out of the ground, and prices spike. But there is a political-economic consequence for that.' The researchers note that food price volatility has been linked to political instability throughout history, such as 2011's Arab Spring and the French and Russian revolutions of the 18th and 20th centuries. 'The meaning of food price inflation is political. It's always political,' said Patel. He cites Mozambique's 2010 bread riots , the roots of which were planted in Russia, where wildfires burned during the country's worst heatwave in more than a century. A lack of firefighting infrastructure made it difficult to put them out, and the country's main growing areas were decimated. As a result, Russia imposed an embargo on wheat exports, and global prices surged. People died due to the wildfires in Russia and during protests, sparked by sky-high bread prices, on the streets of Mozambique . 'This is how a heat spike in Russia can cause deaths by live ammunition in Mozambique,' adds Patel. 'These are the kinds of arcs that we need to be looking for when we understand climate change. Because climate change isn't just, 'Oh, it's hot outside.' Climate change is always freighted with a political valence.' Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our cookbook and recipe newsletter, Cook This, here .
CNN
21-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
Extreme weather caused by climate change is raising food prices worldwide, study says
Extreme weather caused by climate change is driving up the prices of basic food products worldwide and posing wider risks to society, a new study has found. The cost of a wide range of goods – from potatoes in Britain to coffee in Brazil – saw dramatic spikes in recent years due to weather conditions that were 'so extreme they exceeded all historical precedent prior to 2020,' according to the study led by Maximillian Kotz of the Barcelona Supercomputer Center. Previous studies have examined how high temperatures have affected the cost of food produce in the long term, by impacting yields and hitting supply chains. The new research, published Monday, looked at 16 examples across 18 countries around the world where prices spiked in the short term as a result of either extreme heat, drought or heavy precipitation between 2022 and 2024. Cabbage prices in South Korea were 70% higher last September than in September 2023 following a heatwave in August. The price of olive oil shot up by 50% in Europe in January 2024 from a year earlier after a prolonged drought across Italy and Spain in 2022 and 2023, while one of the most severe droughts that Mexico has faced over the last decade also led to a sharp increase in fruit and vegetable prices that month. Rice prices soared by 48% in Japan in September 2024 in the wake of a heatwave that was the hottest since regional records began in 1946, bar the equally hot summer of 2023. Ghana and Ivory Coast account for almost 60% of the world's cocoa production. So a heatwave there in early 2024 that scientists say was made 4 degrees Celsius hotter by climate change saw global cocoa prices rise by a massive 280% in April that year. Healthy food tends to cost more than less healthy alternatives, so a jump in food prices can often lead low income households to cut back on nutritious food like fruit and vegetables, the new study said. It highlighted the resulting 'knock-on societal risks,' with weather-impacted prices potentially contributing to health complications like malnutrition, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. By driving up food prices extreme weather conditions can also worsen overall inflation, which can lead to political unrest and social upheaval, the researchers noted. 'Until we get to net-zero emissions, extreme weather will only get worse, and it's already damaging crops and pushing up the price of food all over the world,' Kotz, who also works for the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, said in a press release about the study. 'People are noticing (this), with rising food prices number two on the list of climate impacts they see in their lives, second only to extreme heat itself.' The study's publication comes ahead of the UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake conference in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia on Sunday, where world leaders will gather to consider the threats to the global food system.
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Climate crisis causing food price spikes around the world, scientists say
South Korean cabbage, Australian lettuce, Japanese rice, Brazilian coffee and Ghanaian cocoa are among the many foods that have been hit by price hikes following extreme climate events since 2022, a team of international scientists has found. The research released on Monday cites, among other examples, a 280 percent spike in global cocoa prices in April 2024, following a heatwave in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, and a 300 percent jump in lettuce prices in Australia after floods in 2022. In the vast majority of cases, the increase in prices came soon after heatwaves, including a 70 percent increase in cabbage prices in South Korea in September 2024, a 48 percent increase in rice prices in Japan in September 2024, and an 81 percent increase in potato prices in India in early 2024. Other price increases were linked to drought, such as a 2023 drought in Brazil that preceded a 55 percent increase in global coffee prices the following year, and a 2022 drought in Ethiopia that came before overall food prices there increased by 40 percent in 2023. The research, published by six European research organisations along with the European Central Bank, was released before the United Nations Food Systems Summit, which will be co-hosted by Ethiopia and Italy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from July 27 to July 29. 'Until we get to net zero emissions extreme weather will only get worse, but it's already damaging crops and pushing up the price of food all over the world,' the report's lead author, Maximillian Kotz, from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, said in a press release. 'People are noticing, with rising food prices number two on the list of climate impacts they see in their lives, second only to extreme heat itself,' Kotz added, noting that low-income families are often the most affected when 'the price of food shoots up'. The report comes as the cost of living, including food affordability, has been a key issue for many voters heading to elections around the world in recent years, including in Japan, where the price of rice was on many voters' minds as they headed to the polls this weekend. Grocery prices were also key election issues in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2024 and in Argentina in 2023. 'In the UK, climate change added £360 [$482] to the average household food bill across 2022 and 2023 alone,' one of the report's co-authors, Amber Sawyer, from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said in a press release. 'Last year, the UK had its third worst arable harvest on record, and England its second worst, following extreme rainfall that scientists said was made worse by climate change,' she added. Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), governments have committed to cutting the global emissions that are driving the climate crisis by 2.6 percent from 2019 to 2030. However, these commitments fall well short of the reductions scientists say are needed to stay within reach of a Paris Agreement target to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is expected to deliver a landmark advisory opinion on states' legal obligations to address climate change on Wednesday, in a case brought by Vanuatu and backed by many Global South the daily Crossword
