World food prices drop for fifth consecutive month: FAO
Rome, Italy (PANA) - World food prices have fallen for a fifth consecutive month but are still nearly eight per cent higher than a year ago, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported on Friday.
Its latest Food Price Index shows that the prices of five commodities - cereals, vegetable oil, dairy, meat and sugar - were lower in August than in July.
The Index tracks the monthly international prices of these breadbasket staples. It averaged 138.0 points last month, down nearly two per cent from July, though 7.9 per cent above the value a year before.
FAO said the decline in cereal prices reflected improved production prospects in North America and Russia, and the resumption of exports from Black Sea ports in Ukraine.
A landmark agreement to unblock Ukraine grain exports amid the ongoing war was signed in July by the country, Russia, Turkey and the UN.
Rice prices on average held steady during August, while quotations for coarse grains, such as maize, increased marginally, FAO said.
Vegetable oil prices decreased by 3.3 per cent, which is slightly below the August 2021 level. FAO attributed this to increased availability of palm oil from Indonesia, due to lower export taxes, and the resumption of sunflower oil shipments from Ukraine.
FAO has also issued its global cereal pdodution forecast for this year, which projects a decline of nearly 40 million tonnes, or 1.4 per cent from the previous year.
The bulk of this decline mainly concerns coarse grains, with maize yields in Europe expected to drop 16 per cent below their five-year average level due to the exceptional hot and dry weather conditions affecting the continent.
By contrast, FAO expects there will be a “negligible drop” in worldwide wheat production resulting from expected record harvests in Russia and conducive weather conditions in North America.
Global rice production is also expected to decline by 2.1 percent from the all-time high reached in 2021.
-0- PANA MA 3Sept2022
