2024-04-05T15:01:43+00:00
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/ The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) index of world food prices rose in March from its lowest levels in 3 years, driven by rising prices of vegetable oils, meat, and dairy products.
The organization said on Friday that its price index, which measures changes in the prices of the most widely traded primary food commodities globally, recorded an average of 118.3 points in March, up from an average level of 117 points in the previous month.
The February reading was the lowest since February 2021, and represented the seventh consecutive monthly decline, according to Reuters.
Global food prices have fallen sharply from an unprecedented peak reached in March 2022 with the beginning of the Russian invasion of crop-exporting Ukraine.
The organization stated that the latest monthly reading of the index decreased by 7.7% on an annual basis.
Vegetable oil prices rose at the highest pace in March, by about 8.0% on a monthly basis.
The dairy products index rose for the sixth month in a row by about 2.9%, driven by the prices of cheese and butter, while the meat index increased by 1.7%, driven by an increase in the prices of poultry and beef.
The FAO Cereals Index fell 2.6% on a monthly basis, and the Sugar Index fell 5.4%.
FAO said that wheat led the decline in grain prices amid strong export competition and the cancellation of purchases by China, which offset a slight rise in corn prices due in part to logistical difficulties in Ukraine.
The organization added that the decline in sugar prices came against the backdrop of raising estimates of expected production in India and improving the pace of harvest in Thailand.
In a separate report on cereal supply and demand, FAO raised its estimate for cereal production in 2023-24 by 1.1% from the previous year to 2,841 million tons from 2,840 million tons in February estimates.
Regarding expectations for the year 2024, the United Nations organization reduced the expected wheat production to 796 million tons from 797 million tons in the previous month’s forecast, due to lower expectations for European Union and British crops after rains that damaged crops and drought conditions in some areas.
As for corn, FAO said that a decline in global production is expected, but the volume of production will remain higher than the average of the past five years, without providing specific estimates.