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The
Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) index, which tracks
the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 118.3 points
in March, up from a revised 117.0 points the previous month, the
agency said on Friday.
The February reading was the lowest for the index since February
2021 and marked a seventh consecutive monthly decline.
International food prices have fallen sharply from a record peak
in March 2022 at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of
fellow crop exporter Ukraine.
The FAO's latest monthly reading was 7.7% below the year-earlier
level, it said.
In March, the agency's vegetable oil price index led gains,
jumping 8% month on month, with all major oils registering
increases. [POI/]
The dairy index gained 2.9% for a sixth straight monthly rise,
driven by cheese and butter prices, while the FAO's meat index
added 1.7%, reflecting higher poultry, pig and beef prices.
Those gains outweighed declines for cereals, which shed 2.6%
from February, and for sugar, which fell 5.4%.
Wheat led the decline in cereals amid strong export competition
and cancelled purchases by China, offsetting a slight rise for
maize (corn) prices partly due to logistical difficulties in
Ukraine, the FAO said. [GRA/]
Weaker sugar prices mainly reflected an upward revision to
expected production in India and an improved harvest pace in
Thailand, it said.
In separate cereal supply and demand data, the FAO nudged up its
forecast for world cereal production in 2023/24 to 2.841 billion
metric tons from 2.840 million projected last month, up 1.1%
from the previous season.
For upcoming crops, the agency trimmed its forecast for 2024
global wheat output to 796 million tons, from 797 million last
month, due to reduced expectations for European Union and UK
crops following rain-hit sowing and dry conditions in some
areas.
For maize, a fall in world production was anticipated but the
volume would remain above the average of the past five years,
the FAO said, without giving a precise forecast.
(Reporting by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Sybille de La Hamaide and
Mark Potter)
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