 Across the world and around the clock, the buying and selling of food commodities take place along supply chains that get food from producers to consumers. Having up-to-date information about the prices of these commodities as they change hands improves the transparency and efficiency of markets, enabling producers, traders, consumers and policymakers to make better decisions. Rising or falling food prices may also indicate changes in supply and demand and can be a sign of abnormal conditions that need to be addressed. Timely and transparent food price information helps to ensure better agricultural livelihoods and ultimately, safeguards the food security of populations. This is especially important for poor and vulnerable consumers, as they generally spend a larger portion of their income on food and can be hit hard by food price shocks. In most countries, the official collection of food prices usually falls under the mandate of the National Statistics Agency, or a market information system, often linked to the Ministry of Agriculture. But all too often, this data is not easily accessible to supply chain actors, consumers, or analysts involved in policy formulation. To improve access to food price data, FAO's markets and trade division developed the Food Price Monitoring and Analysis Tool, or FPMA Tool. This innovative tool makes it easy to share food price information and carry out analysis, providing accurate information for better policy making and food security monitoring. The online interface allows users to scan current and past prices, check basic statistics such as percentage changes, and make comparisons across markets, commodities and seasons. The FPMA Tool is available to countries and regional organizations. It can be linked to existing systems that collect food price data, and tailored to meet specific needs. Besides providing a platform for browsing and analyzing data, the system's advanced programming interface technology also supports the development of dynamic online reporting products. FAO is also developing a complementary tool for the collection of food prices using mobile devices. This tool will link up with the existing FPMA Tool to share the data. The FPMA Tool has already been launched in several countries, and is improving access to food price information at national and regional levels. FAO also maintains a global version of the tool, that is a valuable public resource, available for all to use. The global tool includes domestic food prices for major foods in over 90 countries, as well as international benchmark prices for major food commodities. By ensuring everyone has easy and reliable access to accurate food price information, we can help to protect food in agricultural livelihoods, while also safeguarding food security for millions of people.