Global Food Prices fall to lowest level in 6 Years: FAO
FAO Food Price Index reached its lowest level in May since September 2009
ANKARA
Global food prices dropped to their lowest level since September 2009, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a statement released on Thursday.
Cereal prices fell sharply due to a favorable outlook for this year's harvests, the statement said.
Cereals and dairy products were responsible for much of last month’s decline, although meat prices also fell, according to the FAO.
The FAO Food Price Index, which measures monthly changes in the international prices of five major food commodity groups -- cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar -- fell by 1.4 percent from April and as much as 20.7 percent from a year earlier.. The index stood at 171.5 points in March, down from 175.8 points in January and 210.4 points in May 2014.
The organization's latest "Cereal Supply and Demand Brief " also predicts that global rice output will grow by 1.3 percent from last year, mainly thanks to increases across Asia. However, the forecast is still subject to much uncertainty, as the outcome will very much depend on the unfolding of the season in the next few months.
The vegetable oil price index rose 2.6 percent, partly driven by concerns that the El Nino storms may affect production in Southeast Asia.
According to the FAO's latest upgraded forecasts, global cereal production in 2015 will be 2.524 billion tonnes, only one percent below last year's record.
