Global food prices up for 11th consecutive month

ANKARA: Global food prices in April climbed for an 11th month in a row, driven by strong increases in the prices of sugar, followed by oils, meat, dairy and cereals, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said. Averaging 120.9 points last month, the FAO Food Price Index saw a rise of 1.7% or 2 points from a month earlier.

The FAO Food Price Index is a trade-weighted index that tracks international market prices of five major food commodity groups. The figure was also up as much as 28.4 points 30.8% from the same period last year. The sugar price index posted the highest rise among all the sub-indices with 3.9% month-on-month in April, due to strong buying amid heightened concerns over tighter global supplies in 2020/21 season.

The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index climbed 1.8% in the month, driven by rising soy, rapeseed and palm oil quotations, which offset lower sunflower oil values. The meat price index went up 1.7% from March, marking a seventh consecutive monthly increase. The diary and cereal price indices both climbed 1.2% last month.

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday announced a funding injection to transform the country into a leading digital economy by 2030. Morrison outlined a 1.2 billion-Australian dollar (926.5 million U.S. dollars) plan to accelerate the uptake of digital technologies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Digital Economy Strategy includes 501.9 million Australian dollars (387.5 million U.S. dollars) to enhance the government's digital MyGov and My Health Record systems and more than 100 million Australian dollars (77.2 million U.S. dollars) in funding to improve workers' digital skills. A further 124 million Australian dollars (95.7 million U.S. dollars) will be spent improving Australia's artificial intelligence (AI) capability, with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) to establish and lead a national AI center.

"Every business in Australia is now a digital business," Morrison told reporters, adding "this transformation is not merely a national one that needs to happen - it's a global one that is happening." "We must keep our foot on the digital accelerator to secure our economic recovery from COVID19." The package, which is part of the federal budget for 2021/22, takes the government's digital economy investment to 2 billion Australian dollars (1.54 billion U.S. dollars).

"Greater digital adoption will improve our competitiveness and lift our productivity - driving job creation and higher wages," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.