Food prices fall in June, cereal output seen slightly higher, U.N. agency says
2022.07.08 11:16
FILE PHOTO: A customer browses meat selections and waits to be serviced at Paulina Meat Market in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., June 28, 2022. REUTERS/Bianca Flowers
ROME (Reuters) – World food prices fell for a third consecutive month in June, but remained close to record high levels set in March, the United Nations’ food agency said on Friday.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) food price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 154.2 points last month versus a revised 157.9 for May.
The May figure was previously put at 157.4.
Despite the monthly decline, the June index was still 23.1% higher than a year earlier, pushed up by the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, concerns over adverse weather, strong global demand and high production and transport costs.
“The factors that drove global prices high in the first place are still at play,” said FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero Cullen.
While the cereal, sugar and vegetable oil price indices all fell last month, the dairy and meat indices rose.
In separate cereal supply and demand estimates, the FAO raised its forecast for global cereal production in 2022 to 2.792 billion tonnes from a previously given 2.784 billion. This is still 0.6% short of the world output in 2021.
