World Food Price Index Ends 2023 Some 10 Percent Below 2022 Levels

LONDON: The UN food agency’s world price index ended last year about 10 percent below its 2022, with values in December also down from the previous month, helping further ease concerns over global food price inflation, according to Reuters.

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 118.5 points in December, down 1.5 percent from November and 10.1 percent below December 2022 levels.

For 2023 as a whole, the index averaged 13.7 percent below year earlier levels, with only sugar prices higher over the period. The FAO’s sugar price index did, however, decline 16.6 percent in December from November.

This was “mainly driven by the strong pace of production in Brazil, along with reduced use of sugarcane for ethanol production in India,” the UN agency said in a statement.

The FAO’s cereal price index rose 1.5 percent in December from November, as wheat, maize, rice and barley prices all rose amid hindered shipments from major exporting countries.

For the year as a whole however, cereal prices were 15.4 percent below their 2022 average as markets are well supplied with the exception of rice.

The largest price falls were in vegetable oils, with the price index slumping 1.4 percent in December, from November, and a substantial 32.7 percent drop for the year as a whole.

The FAO’s meat price index dipped 1.0 percent in December from November and was down 1.8 percent year-on-year, while the December diary price index rose 1.6 percent month-on-month, but was down 16.1 percent from a year earlier.