Increases for meat, dairy, and vegetable oils helped the United Nations food agency’s world price index to rise in March from a three-year low, according to Reuters.
The most widely traded food commodities are tracked by the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) price index, which increased to an average of 118.3 points in March from a revised 117.0 points in February, the organization said on Friday.
The index’s February value was its lowest since February 2021 and the seventh straight month that it had declined.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a partner grain supplier, began in March 2022, food prices have dropped dramatically worldwide.
The most recent monthly estimate from the FAO showed a 7.7% decrease from the same period last year.
All of the main oils saw increases in March, although the agency’s vegetable oil price index led improvements, up 8% month over month.
Increase and decrease in Products
The price of cheese and butter propelled the dairy index’s 2.9% growth for a sixth consecutive month, while the FAO’s meat index saw a 1.7% increase due to rising prices for beef and chicken.
These increases were greater than decreases in sugar (5.4%) and grains (2.6%) from February. Due to fierce export rivalry and China’s cancellation of purchases, wheat saw the largest decrease in grain sales.
Looking ahead to 2024, the UN agency projected that wheat output would reach 797 million tons, up 1% from the previous year due to favorable weather in China, India, Iran, Pakistan, North America’s leading exporter, Russia, and North America.