The rise in the cost of most food products last year lifted the UN food agency's average price index to its highest level on record, Reuters reports.

The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Food Price Index, which tracks the international prices of the world's best-selling food commodities, averaged 143.7 points in 2022, up 14.3 percent from 2021 and the highest since records began in 1990.

In 2021, the index is already up 28% from the previous year, as the global economy has recovered from the effects of the pandemic.

In December, the benchmark index fell for the ninth consecutive month to 132.4 points, down from a revised reading of 135.00 points for November. The November reading previously stood at 135.7 points.

According to the FAO, the decline in the index in December was caused by a drop in global vegetable oil prices, as well as some declines in grain and meat prices, but was mitigated by small increases in sugar and dairy prices.

Nevertheless, for all of 2022, four of the FAO's five food sub-indices - cereals, meat, dairy products and vegetable oils - reached record highs, and sugar, hit a 10-year high.

The FAO Cereal Price Index rose 17.9 percent in 2022 due to factors such as significant market disruptions, higher energy and input costs, adverse weather conditions and continued strong global demand for food.