The FAO Food Price Index averaged 206.3 points in November 2013, almost unchanged from the revised value of 206.6 points in October, but 9.5 points (4.4%) below its November 2012 value. A sharp decline in sugar prices last month nearly offset the rise in oils. Cereals averaged slightly lower but meat and dairy values were stable.
FAO Food Price Index dropped for the fourth month in a row in August reaching its lowest level since June 2012. The index, which measures the monthly change in the international prices of a basket of food commodities, averaged 201.8 points in August 2013, nearly 4 points (1.9%) below its July value and 11 points (5.1% less than in August 2012.
The FAO Food Price Index fell 1% in October 2012, and for the first ten months of the year food prices were on average 8% lower than in the same period in 2011. The Index dipped two points to 213 points from September's revised level of 215 points. The decline was largely due to lower international prices of cereals and oils and fats, which more than offset increases in dairy and sugar prices.
The world could face a food crisis of the kind seen in 2007/08 if countries restrict exports on concerns about a drought-fuelled grain price rally, the UN food agency FAO warned, after reporting a surge in global food prices in July.
FAO Food Price Index fell for the third consecutive month in June 2012, dipping 1.8% from May to its lowest level since September 2010. The four-point drop in June brought the index to 201 points from a revised level of 205 points in May 2012.
United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said global food prices dropped sharply in May due to generally favourable supplies, growing global economic uncertainties and a strengthening of the US dollar.
Global food prices increased by 8% from December 2011 to March 2012 due to higher oil prices, adverse weather conditions, and Asia’s strong demand for food imports, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Food Price Watch.
In the last two years inflation in Latin America has stabilized varying between 6% and 7%, according to the latest monthly report from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) regional office.
The FAO Food Price Index rose 1% or 2.4 points from January to February. The Index climbed nearly 2% in January – its first increase in six months. The February increase was mostly driven by higher prices of sugar, oils and cereals while dairy prices fell slightly after a marked rise in January.
The FAO Food Price Index rose by nearly two percent or four points from December to January, its first increase since July 2011. According to FAO prices of all the commodity groups in the index registered gains last month with oils increasing the most followed closely by cereals, sugar, dairy products and meat.