Food prices in Mali and Sudan: changes, causes, consequences and responses - May 2025 update

From early 2020 prices of cereals, fuels and fertiliser on world prices began to rise, beginning a cycle that would peak in mid-2022, by which time many prices had doubled or more. At the time, much concern was expressed that increases in prices on world markets would transmit to domestic markets in the Global South, driving up local food prices, and causing distress to people on low incomes.

SPARC-IDRC carried out a study in 2023 to see what had happened to staple food prices in Mali and Sudan between 2019 (pre-pandemic) and mid-2022, with what consequences, and with what public responses. That research reported cereal prices in both countries had doubled or more since early 2020. Price rises were (very) largely a result of domestic drivers, above all poor harvests and, in Sudan, hyperinflation. Most people living on low incomes tried to economise by cutting out costly foods and trying to earn more by taking on more work. Public responses were inadequate to mitigate hardship.

This report extends the analysis in the two countries from 2023 to mid-2025, examining subsequent price changes and their drivers, effects on vulnerable people, and public responses.