Rome: The UN food agency’s world price index rose for the first time in a year in April but is still up nearly 20% from a March 2022 record high following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) price index, which tracks the most-traded food commodities globally, averaged 127.2 points last month, up from 126.5 for March, the agency said on Friday. The March reading was originally given as 126.9.
The Rome-based agency said the April increase reflected higher prices for sugar, meat and rice, which offset declines in cereal, dairy and vegetable oil price indices.
“As the economy recovers from a significant recession, demand will increase, exerting pressure on food prices,” said Maximo Torero, FAO chief economist.
The Sugar Price Index rose 17.6% from March, reaching its highest level since October 2011. in Thailand and the European Union.
While the meat index increased by 1.3% month-on-month, dairy prices declined by 1.7%, vegetable oil prices declined by 1.3% and the cereal price index declined by 1.7%, rice prices The increase in world prices of all major cereals led to a decline in ,
“The rise in rice prices is extremely worrying and it is essential that the Black Sea Initiative is renewed to avoid any further spikes in wheat and maize,” Torero said.
In a separate report on grain supply and demand, the FAO forecast world wheat production in 2023 at 785 million tonnes, slightly below 2022 levels but still the second largest on record.
“(The) 2023/24 rice production prospects along the equator and to the south are mixed, mainly due to the regionally varying impact of the La Niña event,” FAO said.
The FAO raised its forecast for world grain production in 2022 to 2.785 billion tonnes from the previous 2.777 billion, down only 1.0% from the previous year.
The 2022/23 period sees world grain use at 2.780 billion tonnes, FAO said, down 0.7% from 2021/22. World grain stocks are expected to fall 0.2% from their opening level to 855 million tonnes by the end of the 2022/2023 season.
(Editing by Crispian Balmer)
Disclaimer: This report is generated automatically from Reuters news service. ThePrint is not responsible for its content.