The food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) World Price Index fell in June to its lowest level in more than two years, driven by the falling cost of sugar, vegetable oils, cereals and dairy products.

Edited  by |ANNA sam

Economic  section -  CJ journalist

World - July,8,2023

The organization said today that " its index, which tracks the prices of the most traded food commodities globally, averaged 122.3 points last June compared to 124.0 points after the adjustment in the previous month, with the reading in May last recorded 124.3 points,"the June 2023 reading is the lowest since April 2021 and means that the index is now about 23.4 percent lower than the highest level reached in March 2022 after the outbreak of the Russian - Ukrainian war.

In a separate report on grain supply and demand, FAO predicted that "world grain production this year will reach 2.819 billion tons, slightly higher than last month's estimates and 1.1 percent higher than 2022 levels".

"The higher outlook was driven almost entirely by better prospects for global wheat production, with the forecast rising by 0.9 percent to 783.3 million tonnes,"FAO said.

The FAO Cereal Price Index fell 2.1 percent in June compared to the previous month, with corn, barley, sorghum, wheat and rice prices falling.

The vegetable oil price index fell 2.4 percent on a monthly basis, recording its lowest level since November 2020, driven by falling global prices for palm and sunflower oils.

"The sugar price index fell 3.2 percent from last May, marking its first decline after four consecutive monthly increases, which is mainly due to the improvement in the sugarcane crop in Brazil and the slowdown in global import demand,"the World Organization said.

The Dairy Price Index fell 0.8 percent compared to last May, while the meat index remained unchanged.