The United Nations food agency’s world price index declined for the tenth consecutive month in January, and is now down almost 18% from a record high set in March following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Friday, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that its price index for the most popular trading food commodities fell to 131.2 points in January from 132.2 in December. The reading was the lowest since September of 2021.
The December figure was reduced from an earlier estimate of 132.4.
The FAO reported that the index fell due to lower prices for vegetable oils, dairy products, and sugar, while the cost of grains and meat remained relatively unchanged.
In separate estimates of wheat supply and demand released on Friday, the FAO increased its projection for world grain production in 2022 from 2.75 billion tonnes to 2.76 billion tonnes.
