WASHINGTON, April 2, 2015 – Global food prices continued their downward path last month, dropping 1.5 percent from February figures according to data from the United Nations.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released a report today showing Food Price Index figures maintained a downward progression that originally began in April 2014. In addition to March’s Index being 1.5 percent lower than the previous month, it was 18.7 percent below March 2014 levels. The Food Price Index is described by FAO as a “trade-weighted index that tracks prices of five major food commodity groups (cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils, and sugar) on international markets.”
- The Sugar Price Index experienced a sharp 9.2 percent drop from February and is now down to its lowest level since February of 2009.
- The Cereal Price Index slid 1.1 percent in March and about 18.7 percent from a year earlier. Large export supplies and increased inventories were blamed for the slide.
- Meat and vegetable oil indices also dropped 1 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively.
- Dairy was the only commodity to experience a lift in the Price Index, a 1.7 percent hike from February. It was the second consecutive month dairy experienced an increase.
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FAO also upped their projection for world cereal stocks for crop seasons ending in 2015, raising it to 645 million metric tons based on “revisions to wheat and maize stocks in China.” The cereal stocks-to-use ratio is expected by reach 25.9 percent in 2014-2015, its highest value since 2001-2002.
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