World food prices increase in April, UN's FAO says

LONDON - Global food commodity prices increased in April, driven by higher cereal, meat and dairy product prices that outweighed falls in sugar and vegetable oils, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Friday (May 2).

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in a basket of internationally traded food commodities, averaged 128.3 points in April, up one per cent versus the March estimate of 127.1 points.

The April reading was also 7.6 per cent higher than the same month a year ago but 19.9 per cent below a March 2022 peak reached following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

For cereals, FAO's price index rose 1.2 per cent from March as wheat prices edged up due to tighter exports from Russia, rice rose on stronger demand and corn stocks tightened in the US.

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"Currency fluctuations influenced price movements in world markets, while tariff policy adjustments raised market uncertainty," the FAO added.

Despite the April rise, the cereal price index was 0.5 per cent below its year earlier level.

Also driving food prices higher, the FAO's meat price index rose 3.2 per cent last month, led by pig meat prices and firm import demand for bovine meat.

The dairy price index rose 2.4 per cent in April and jumped 22.9 per cent versus a year ago as butter prices hit record highs thanks to declining inventories in Europe.

By contrast, FAO's vegetable price index fell 2.3 per cent last month due to a sharp decline in palm oil prices, while the sugar price index dropped 3.5 per cent on fears over the uncertain global economic outlook.

In a separate cereal report, FAO kept its forecast for 2025 world wheat production unchanged at 795 million metric tons, on par with 2024 levels.

The agency decreased its estimate slightly for global cereal production in 2024 to 2.848 billion tons from 2.849 billion.

Source: Reuters