Worldwide meals costs have fallen sharply from file peak
5 April 2024
2 minute learn
The United Nations meals company’s world value index rebounded in March from a three-year low, boosted by will increase for vegetable oils, meat and dairy merchandise, reported Reuters.
The Meals and Agriculture Group’s (FAO) value index, which tracks probably the most globally traded meals commodities, averaged 118.3 factors in March, up from a revised 117.0 factors the earlier month, the company mentioned on Friday.
The February studying was the bottom for the index since February 2021 and marked a seventh consecutive month-to-month decline.
Worldwide meals costs have fallen sharply from a file peak in March 2022 at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of fellow crop exporter Ukraine.
The FAO’s newest month-to-month studying was 7.7% under the year-earlier stage, it mentioned.
In March, company’s vegetable oil value index jumped 8% month on month, the dairy index gained almost 2.9% for a sixth straight month-to-month rise, whereas its meat index added 1.7%.
The dairy index gained 2.9% for a sixth straight month-to-month rise, pushed by cheese and butter costs, whereas the FAO’s meat index added 1.7%, reflecting larger poultry, pig and beef costs.
These good points outweighed declines for cereals, which shed 2.6% from February, and for sugar, which fell 5.4%.
Wheat led the decline in cereals amid sturdy export competitors and cancelled purchases by China, offsetting a slight rise for maize (corn) costs partly as a result of logistical difficulties in Ukraine, the FAO mentioned. GRA/
Weaker sugar costs primarily mirrored an upward revision to anticipated manufacturing in India and an improved harvest tempo in Thailand, it mentioned.
In separate cereal provide and demand knowledge, the FAO nudged up its forecast for world cereal manufacturing in 2023/24 to 2.841 billion metric tons from 2.840 million projected final month, up 1.1% from the earlier season.
For upcoming crops, the company trimmed its forecast for 2024 international wheat output to 796 million tons, from 797 million final month, as a result of lowered expectations for European Union and UK crops following rain-hit sowing and dry situations in some areas.
For maize, a fall in world manufacturing was anticipated however the quantity would stay above the typical of the previous 5 years, the FAO mentioned, with out giving a exact forecast.
