To more closely monitor the evolution and transmission of international and local food prices, FEWS NET is monitoring and reporting on staple food prices in key markets in urban and town centers in food insecure countries. A selection of these market centers, along with additional markets in non-presence (no FEWS NET office) countries are presented here. A longer list of commodities and markets is available at www.fews.net.

Key points:

Prices remained stable or declined for about 87 percent of all commodities-market pairs covered last month (see Price Watch Annex), largely due to local harvests and falling international commodity prices.

Food prices in most East African markets decreased as newly harvested crops entered the market, with significant declines in Kitui, Kisumu, and Eldoret, in Kenya, and in Lira and Kampala, in Uganda.

Staple food prices in Haiti are all below February's prices, except for local maize flour and imported rice prices in Jacmel.

This month's Price Watch includes 137 markets in 31 countries.

Table 1 lists the five largest increases and decreases in prices of staple foods, from both the previous month and the previous year.

Special Market Focus: "Analysis of the Recovery of Food Markets in Haiti."