According to the statement made by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices of food products, decreased by 1.2 percent compared to the previous month to 121.4 points in August. The index fell to its lowest level since March 2021.
After the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, the index, which fell by 24 percent from the record level in March 2022, broke the record by reaching 159.7 points with the war.
Meanwhile, the FAO Food Price Index for July, which was announced as 123.9 percent, was revised to 124 points.
FAO announced that global rice prices hit a 15-year high in August after India, the world’s largest rice exporter, banned some overseas grain sales.
Noting that although global food prices eased in August, rice prices increased by 9.8 percent compared to the previous month, FAO emphasized that this situation “reflects the commercial disruptions after India’s ban on Indica white rice exports”.
It was noteworthy that global food prices decreased in August, led by vegetable oils, dairy products and cereals. The decline in these products offset increases in rice and sugar.
Vegetable Oil Price Index decreased by 3.1 percent due to the decrease in global prices of monthly sunflower oils. Sunflower oil prices fell nearly 8 percent in August, driven by weakening global import demand and ample supply from major exporters.
The Grain Price Index fell 0.7 percent from July as wheat prices fell due to the harvest in the northern hemisphere.
The sugar index rose 1.3 percent month-on-month in August, rising 34 percent from the previous year, supported by concerns about the impact of El Niño weather conditions on global production.
In the same period, the FAO Dairy Price Index decreased by 4 percent due to the abundance of supply from Australia and New Zealand, bringing its decline to the eighth month.
The Meat Price Index also fell 3 percent in August.
FAO also published the Grain Supply and Demand Summary Report, which includes evaluations of global production, consumption, trade and stock trends. FAO has forecast that global grain production this year will reach 2.815 billion tonnes, down slightly from the previous estimate of 2.819 billion tonnes.
