The United Nations Food Agency's World Price Index rose for the second consecutive month in April as higher meat prices and slight gains in vegetable oils and grains outweighed declines in sugar and dairy products.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) price index, which tracks the world's most traded food products, averaged 119.1 points in April, up from the previous month's revised reading of 118.8 points, the agency announced on May 3.
Also read | Wholesale price inflation rate rose to 0.53% in March, the highest level in three months
Still, FAO's April figures were 7.4% below the previous year's level.
The index hit a three-year low in February as food prices continue to retreat from a record peak in March 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a fellow crop exporter. did.
Meat showed the strongest price increase in April, rising 1.6% month-on-month. Higher prices for chicken, beef and mutton offset a small decline in pork prices, which were affected by weaker demand from Western Europe and major importing countries, particularly China, FAO said.
The FAO grain index ended its three-month decline, supported by higher corn export prices. Vegetable oil prices also rose, extending their previous gains and reaching a 13-month high due to strong prices for sunflower oil and rapeseed oil.
The sugar index fell sharply, down 4.4% from March and down 14.7% from the same month last year, amid improving global supply prospects.
Dairy products prices fell slightly, ending six consecutive months of increases.
Inflation will subside in 2024, but food prices will remain high
In separate grain supply and demand data, FAO slightly raised its forecast for global grain production in 2023/24 to 2.846 billion tonnes, up 1.2% year-on-year from last month's forecast of 2.841 billion tonnes. Pakistan.
For future crops, authorities have revised their forecast for global wheat production in 2024 to 796 million tonnes from last month's 796 million tonnes, reflecting a much lower than previously expected wheat planting in the European Union (EU). The figure has been revised downward to 91 million tons.
Still, the revised 2024 wheat production outlook was about 0.5% above the previous year's level.
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