World food prices fall for fourth successive month

WORLD food prices fell for a fourth consecutive month in May, hit by the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic which has stymied demand, the United Nations food agency said yesterday.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 162.5 points last month, down 1.9pc on April.

It was the lowest monthly reading since December 2018.

The dairy index dropped 7.3pc, led by sharp falls in both butter and cheese, partly because of lower import demand.

The cereal price index slipped 1pc as coarse grain prices continued their decline, with US maize prices some 16pc down on the year, and wheat export prices falling, amid expectations of ample global supplies. International rice prices edged higher.

Vegetable oil prices fell 2.8pc to a 10-month low, while the meat index slipped 0.8pc. Poultry and pig meat quotations continued to fall, reflecting high export availabilities and despite an increase in import demand in East Asia.

Bucking the general downward trend, the sugar price index jumped 7.4pc in April largely because of lower-than-expected harvests in some major producers.

FAO also posted its first forecast for the 2020 cereal season, foreseeing global output of 2.78 billion tonnes – a 2.6pc increase on 2019’s record harvest.

The UN agency said maize would account for much of the expected increase, rising a predicted 64.5 million tonnes to 1.2 billion tonnes thanks to anticipated record harvests in the United States, Canada and Ukraine, and near-record harvests in Brazil and Argentina.

Rice production was seen reaching an all-time high of 508.7 million tonnes in 2020, up 1.6pc on 2019.