April 20, 2022: -On Monday, the increased price of corn reached another milestone as the cost of global commodities kept on pushing high.

The contracts for July corn futures were trading at more than $8 per bushel on Monday, the highest level since September 2012. The arrangements were trading near $6 per bushel at the start of the year.

Corn is just one of a few agricultural commodities that have seen surging prices in recent weeks because of the war in Ukraine. Ukraine is a huge exporter of wheat and other items, like sunflower oil, while Russia is a crucial producer of grain and many chemicals used in fertilizer. That leads futures traders to bet that higher input costs and more demand for corn as a substitute food item will drive up the price. Even before the war, agricultural commodities saw upward pressure amid supply chain disruptions and high transportation costs that contributed to inflation throughout the economy. Drought in the western U.S. and elsewhere has also driven prices higher.

In addition to global supply concerns, which hits agricultural commodities broadly, corn has a potential source of additional demand.

President Joe Biden announced in the previous week that his administration would temporarily allow the sale of higher-ethanol gasoline over the summer to offset rising energy costs. Summer is typically one of the highest-demand periods for gasoline in the U.S.

The rising price of corn and different food commodities contributes to the highest inflation rate the U.S. has seen since the 1980s, which leads the Federal Reserve to start raising interest rates. Few economists and Wall Street strategists are worried that, in trying to slow inflation, the central bank could tip the country into a recession.

The World Bank warned that global food insecurity was likely to increase this year due to the higher prices.