World meals costs had 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) mentioned Friday.
The United Nations company mentioned its FAO Food Price Index dropped 0.7% in February and is down 10.5% from a 12 months in the past.
The index averaged 117.3 factors in February, down from a revised 118.2 factors the earlier month, the company mentioned.
The FAO index measures commodity market costs, and it could take some time for these to filter by way of to grocery store cabinets. They characterize solely a fraction of the price of processed ultimate merchandise.
Cereals alone plunged 5% throughout the month and 22.4% from February final 12 months, pushed decrease by corn “amid expectations of large harvests in South America and competitive prices offered by Ukraine,” the FAO mentioned.
Wheat was pulled decrease by stronger Russian exports and rice costs additionally fell.
Vegetable oils additionally largely fell because of ample harvests in South America.
Sugar, nonetheless, rose 3.2% throughout the month due to dry climate in Brazil.
The meat index rose 1.8% throughout 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