The FAO Food Price Index averaged 182.5 points during the month, up 0.7 percent from December and 11.3 percent higher than the same month a year earlier. Vegetable oils, sugar, and wheat were the chief drivers of the index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly-traded food commodities.
The Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, an international treaty aimed at stopping rogue fishing practices, gives the world all the instruments necessary to achieve our goal, FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged 173.8 in January, its highest value in almost two years, marking a 2.1% increase from its revised December value and 16.4% above its 2016 January level. The FAO Sugar Price Index surged 9.9% in the month, driven by expectations of protracted supply tightness in Brazil, India and Thailand.
The United Nations has postponed the promotion of former Peruvian first lady Nadine Heredia to a key post in the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, in Geneva amid a money laundering investigation. The Judicial branch of Peru ordered Heredia to return to the country within 10 days after she left for Switzerland for several days to begin her role as the FAO's Geneva director.
The United States has brought added momentum to global efforts targeting illegal fishing by adhering to a FAO-brokered international pact.US Ambassador to the United Nations agencies in Rome, David Lane, this week formally presented FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva with the US' instrument of ratification of the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing.
Some 130 ministers, 12 heads of state or government, including presidents from Argentina and Chile, Cristina Fernandez and Michelle Bachelet, plus numerous other high-level government representatives will be converging on Rome this week for the 39th session of FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) governing Conference (6-13 June).
The FAO Food Price Index continued to decline in January, averaging 182.7 points for the month, or 1.9 percent below its December 2014 level. Lower prices reflect strong production expectations as FAO also raised its 2014 forecast for world cereal production to a record high and noted that early indications for crops in 2015 are favorable.
FAO's monthly Food Price Index declined in December after three months of stability. Continued large supplies and record stocks combined with a stronger U.S. dollar and falling oil prices contributed to the decline, which helped bring the 2014 overall Food Price Index down 3.7%.
According to FAO's monthly Cereal Supply and Demand Brief release, the forecast for 2014 world cereal production by about one million tons. At 2.5 billion tons, the full-year production figure would be 3.7 million tons below 2013's record output.
World shrimp production, which currently stands at between 7 and 8 million tons could reach 11 to 18 million tons in 2030, according to projections by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO.