The Logo of the Food and Agriculture Organization is seen at a conference room during a summit of the FAO in its headquarters on June 3, 2008 in Rome. (CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP)

PARIS - World food prices jumped to a new record high in March as the conflict in Ukraine caused turmoil in markets for staples grains and edible oils, the UN food agency said on Friday.

The agency also cut its estimate of world wheat production in 2022 to 784 million tonnes on Friday from a forecast of 790 million last month as it factored in the possibility that at least 20 percent of Ukraine's winter crop area would not be harvested

The Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 159.3 points last month versus an upwardly revised 141.4 for February.

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The February figure was previously put at 140.7, which was a record at the time.

Russia and Ukraine are both major exporters of wheat, corn, barley and sunflower oil via the Black Sea, and Moscow's six-week-old special military operation in Ukraine has stalled its neighbor's exports.

FAO warned last month that food and feed prices could rise by up to 20 percent as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, triggering a jump in global malnourishment. 

The agency also cut its estimate of world wheat production in 2022 to 784 million tonnes on Friday from a forecast of 790 million last month as it factored in the possibility that at least 20 percent of Ukraine's winter crop area would not be harvested.

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It lowered its projection of global cereals trade in the 2021/22 marketing year as disruption to Black Sea exports were seen as only being partially offset by increased exports from India, the European Union, Argentina and the United States.