World food price index ticks lower in November: FAO

The United Nations food agency’s world price index fell marginally in November, marking an eighth straight monthly fall since a record high in March after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 135.7 points last month, down from 135.9 for October, the agency said on Friday.

The October figure was unchanged from the FAO’s previous estimate.

Lower readings for cereals, meat and dairy products in November offset higher prices for vegetable oils and sugar, the FAO said.

Last month’s agreement to prolong a UN-backed grain export channel from Ukraine for another 120 days has tempered worries about war disruption to massive Black Sea trade.

The slight decrease in November meant that the FAO food index is now only 0.3 per cent above its level a year earlier, the agency said.

In separate cereal supply and demand estimates, the FAO lowered its forecast for global cereal production in 2022 to 2.756 billion tonnes from 2.764 billion estimated last month.

The forecast was 2 per cent below the estimated output for 2021 and would mark a three-year low, the FAO said.