World meals costs have been down for the seventh straight month in February as falling cereal costs outweighed extra expensive sugar and meat, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) stated Friday.
The United Nations company stated its FAO Food Price Index dropped 0.7% in February and is down 10.5% from a yr in the past.
The index averaged 117.3 factors in February, down from a revised 118.2 factors the earlier month, the company stated.
The FAO index measures commodity market costs, and it could possibly take some time for these to filter by means of to grocery store cabinets. They signify solely a fraction of the price of processed ultimate merchandise.
Cereals alone plunged 5% in the course of the month and 22.4% from February final yr, pushed decrease by corn “amid expectations of large harvests in South America and competitive prices offered by Ukraine,” the FAO stated.
Wheat was pulled decrease by stronger Russian exports and rice costs additionally fell.
Vegetable oils additionally largely fell as a consequence of plentiful harvests in South America.
Sugar, nonetheless, rose 3.2% in the course of the month due to dry climate in Brazil.
The meat index rose 1.8% in the course of the month as heavy rains disrupted cattle transportation in Australia and Chinese demand for pork grew amid tight provides in Europe.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
