Spanish
Rome.- The world food price index remained "practically unchanged" in August compared to the previous month, as the fall in cereals and dairy compensated for the increase in meat, which reached "a historic high", reported this Friday the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The FAO indicator, which monthly tracks changes in the international prices of a set of food products, stood at 130.1 points, just above the July revision (130.0) and 6.9% higher than that recorded in the same month of 2022.
However, vegetable oil prices rose 1.4% from July and reached their highest level in three years. Also, the meat price index increased by 0.6% in August, "reaching a new historical high, due to the rise in international beef prices as a result of strong demand in the United States of America and firm import demand from China, which boosted prices for export in Australia and Brazil, respectively". In this line, the price of sugar rose slightly by 0.2% compared to July, after five consecutive months of declines, mainly due to concerns about production and sugarcane yields in Brazil and the increase in global import demand."The decline in the prices of cereals and dairy products offset the increase in the prices of meat, sugar and vegetable oils," explained the organization, adding that the indicator remained "practically unchanged" compared to the previous one.
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On the other hand, the price of cereals decreased by 0.8% this month as a result of more abundant wheat harvests in Russia and the European Union (EU), in addition to the fact that corn prices rose and those of all types of rice fell. In addition, FAO revised upwards its forecast for global cereal production in 2025, which would reach a historic record of 2.961 billion tonnes, 3.5% above last year's level. On the other hand, the forecast for world grain trade for 2025/26 was revised upwards, reaching 493.4 million tons, an increase of 1.4% compared to the previous year, due to expectations of abundant exportable supplies of corn and strong demand for wheat.
