Attachments
Summary of Key Findings
Food prices in Cambodia remained stable but high in July 2022. The cost of a basic food basket increased marginally, to 106,625 KHR/person/month (+0.5% MoM and -0.2% YoY), equivalent to USD 26.0. Overall, prices declined slightly in rural areas (-0.3% MoM) while increasing in urban areas (+0.9% MoM).
Between June and July 2022, the average retail prices for most key food commodities fluctuated only slightly (±≤5.0%). Fluctuations were more pronounced in rural areas. Some food commodities in the basket show substantial long-term price increases such as vegetable oil (+31.5% YoY), which is mostly imported, duck eggs (+19.6% YoY) and morning glory (+10.7% YoY).
Market functionality deteriorated notably in July with the Market Functionality Index (MFI) dropping to a record low in 2022. This was driven by a strong decline in the physical availability of goods in markets and the predictability of market prices. Along similar lines, the number of customers visiting markets fell to a new low in 2022. Taken together, these findings indicate a drop in consumer demand.
With prices of fuel and fertilizer are set to stay high, food prices are likely to remain high in the short term. Cambodia is weathering a cost-of-living shock that is gradually eroding household purchasing power, as can be seen with declining consumer demand. Poor households will face affordability issues as they already spend most of their available income (60%) on food in normal times (CSES, 2019/20).