UN's food agency decreased in March for the 6th straight month .

 The UN says that worldwide food prices are down in March for a sixth consecutive month.

  

According to Reuters, the world price index for the UN's food agency decreased in March for the 6th straight month and is now down 20.5 percent from a record high reached one year ago following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday that its price index, which tracks the most widely traded agricultural commodities, averaged 126.9 points in March as opposed to 129.7 in February. Since July 2021, it was the lowest reading ever.

 

The reading for February was first reported as 129.8. According to FAO, the decline was caused by a combination of plentiful supply, muted import demand, and the prolongation of a treaty allowing the secure shipment of Ukrainian grain over the Black Sea.

 

According to the Rome-based agency, decreased costs for dairy, grains, and vegetable oils offset higher prices for sugar and meat. This caused the index to decline. Although prices have decreased globally, they are still quite high and are expected to rise in domestic markets, which presents new concerns for food security, according to Maximo Torero, FAO's senior economist.

 

This is especially true for developing nations that are net importers of food, where the situation is made worse by currency declines against the US dollar or the euro as well as growing debt loads, the author continued. March saw a 5.6 percent month-over-month dip in the FAO grain price index, with wheat prices falling by 7.1 percent, maize prices falling by 4.6 percent, and rice prices falling by 3.2 percent. The dairy index decreased by 0.8 percent while vegetable oils declined by 3.0 percent, or 47.7 percent, below the level the index reached in March 2022. In contrast, sugar increased by 1.5% to reach its highest level since October 2016, as worries about dwindling supply prospects in China, India, and Thailand spread. The index for meat prices increased by 0.8 percent.

 

The FAO increased its forecast for world wheat production in 2023, now estimated at 786 million tonnes — 1.3 percent below the level of 2022 but still the second-largest outturn on record. This prediction was made in a separate report on cereals' supply and demand. While drought weather is affecting North Africa and southern Europe, near-record sown areas are anticipated in Asia, according to FAO.

 

In addition, FAO increased its prediction for global cereal production in 2022 to 2.777 billion tonnes, or 1.2 percent less than in 2021. 516 million tonnes of rice were produced worldwide in 2022–2023, which was 1.6 percent less than the record crop in 2021–2022. According to the FAO, global grain consumption in 2022–2023 was estimated to be 2.779 billion tonnes, a decrease of 0.7% from 2021/22. At the end of the 2022–2023 seasons, it is anticipated that global cereal inventories will decline by 0.3% from their initial levels to 850 million tonnes.

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