Record food prices decrease slightly in April: UN agency
There were 'modest declines' in the prices of vegetable oils, cereals
World food prices fell in April after a large jump in March, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The agency reported on Friday that there were "modest declines" in the prices of vegetable oils and cereals.
The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a basket of commonly-traded food commodities, was down 0.8% from the all-time high reached in March and averaged 158.5 points last month, though it remained 29.8% higher than in April 2021.
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The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index decreased 5.7% in April, as demand rationing pushed down prices for palm, sunflower and soy oils.
The FAO Cereal Price Index declined by 0.7 points in April, pushed down by a 3% decline in world maize prices.
A French farmer harvests his field of wheat in Thun-L'Eveque, northern France, July 22, 2021. (Reuters/Pascal Rossignol/File / Reuters)
"The small decrease in the index is a welcome relief, particularly for low-income food-deficit countries, but still food prices remain close to their recent highs, reflecting persistent market tightness and posing a challenge to global food security for the most vulnerable," FAO chief economist Máximo Torero Cullen said in a statement.
The FAO said international wheat prices were still affected by the continued blockage of ports in Ukraine, as well as concerns over U.S. crop conditions, but were also tempered by larger shipments from India and higher-than-expected exports from Russia.
International rice prices rose by 2.3% from their March levels.
The FAO slightly cut its projection of world wheat production in 2022 to 782 million tonnes, from 784 million last month.
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The FAO Sugar Price Index increased by 3.3%, the meat price index rose 2.2% from the previous month and the dairy price index climbed 0.9%.
In separate estimates on cereal supply and demand, forecasts point to a likely 1.2% decline in world trade cereal in the 2021-2022 marketing year, compared with the previous year.
"The decline is associated with maize and other coarse grains, while trade volumes for rice are predicted to grow by 3.8% and that for wheat by 1.0%," the agency said.
The world cereal utilization for the 2021-2022 period is projected to increase by 0.9% from the previous year.
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New estimates of world cereal stocks by the close of seasons in 2022 now stand at 856 million tonnes.
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That forecast incorporates an anticipated 20% decline in harvested area in Ukraine, as well as drought-driven output declines in Morocco.
The estimates indicate that Brazil is on course to harvest a record maize crop in 2022, while initial planting surveys indicate that maize acreage in the U.S. is likely to decline by 4%.
Reuters contributed to this report.