The World Price Index of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) rose in April for the first time in a year.
The organization said the index, which measures the prices of the world’s best-selling food products, averaged 127.2 points last month, up from 126.5 in March. The March value was initially 126.9 points.
The agency added that the increase in April reflected higher prices for sugar, meat and rice, which offset the impact of lower prices for cereals, milk and vegetable oils.
The sugar price index rose 17.6% from March, the highest level since October 2011. The organization said the increase was driven by fears of reduced supplies following downward revisions to production forecasts in India and China, as well as lower-than-expected production in Thailand and the European Union.
While the meat index rose 1.3% m/m, dairy prices fell 1.7%, vegetable oils 1.3% and cereals 1.7%. The fall in world prices for all major cereals outweighed the rise in rice prices.
In a separate Cereal Supply and Demand Report, FAO expects global wheat production to reach around 785 million tonnes in 2023, slightly below 2022 levels, but still the second-highest production ever.
FAO also raised its estimates for global cereal production for 2022 to 2.785 billion tons from a previous estimate of 2.777 billion tons, down 1% from the previous year.
By the end of the 2022-2023 season, global grain stocks are expected to decrease by 0.2% compared to their level at the beginning, to 855 million tons.
Source: cnbc
