FAO Food Price Index up marginally in April

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) announced the benchmark for world food commodity prices edged higher in April, as rising meat prices and modest upticks for vegetable oils and cereals more than offset decreases for sugar and dairy products.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a set of globally-traded food commodities, averaged 119.1 points in April, up 0.3 percent from its revised March level, while down 9.6 percent from its year-earlier level.

The FAO Cereal Price Index rose 0.3 percent from March, ending a three-month declining trajectory.

FAO pointed to an increase in corn export prices affected by high demand amid increasing logistical disruptions, while the FAO overall rice price index fell by 1.8 percent.

The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index also increased by 0.3 percent from March, reaching a 13-month-high, as higher quotations for sunflower and rapeseed oil offset slightly lower prices for palm and soy oil.

The FAO Meat Price Index increased by 1.6 percent in April from the previous month, as international poultry, bovine and ovine meat prices all rose.

The FAO Sugar Price Index declined 4.4 percent from March to stand 14.7 percent below its April 2023 level.

The FAO Dairy Price Index decreased marginally, by 0.3 percent, ending six consecutive months of increases, led by sluggish spot import demand for skim milk powder and by lower world cheese prices, impacted by the strengthening of the United States dollar. World butter prices, by contrast, increased amid steady import demand.

FAO also released a new Cereal Supply and Demand Brief, slightly raising its forecast for the world total cereal production in 2023 to 2846 million tonnes, a 1.2 percent increase from the previous year. The revision primarily reflects new information from Myanmar and Pakistan.

The forecast for world cereal utilisation was increased to 2 829 million tonnes, mostly reflecting higher than previously anticipated feed use of maize and barley. Global maize utilisation is now expected to rise 1.6 percent over the year, while that for wheat rises by 1.9 percent and that for rice dips mildly.

World cereal stocks are forecast to end the 2024 seasons at 890 million tonnes, a 2.1 percent increase from the outset of the year, pointing to a worldwide cereal stocks-to-use ratio of 30.9 percent.

FAO also adjusted its forecast for global wheat production in 2024, now standing at 791 million tonnes, less than previously expected but still marking an increase of 0.5 percent from 2023.