Food prices around the world fell sharply in July, the United Nations said on Friday, noting that it was vegetable oils and cereals that pulled food prices down.
With prices of major grains and vegetable oils registering double-digit declines, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), noting that the FAO Food Price Index, which observed closely, averaged 140.9 points in July, down 8.6% from June.
This is its fourth consecutive monthly decline since hitting its highest level on record earlier in the year. The index, which tracks the monthly change in the international prices of a basket of commonly traded food products, nevertheless remained 13.1% higher than its value in July 2021, it added.
“The fall in food prices, which had reached very high levels, is positive, especially from the point of view of access to food”FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said in a statement.
However, many uncertainties remain. In this regard, the UN agency pointed out that high fertilizer prices could have “potential impacts on production and farmers’ livelihoods in the future”.
The FAO also points the finger “the gloomy global economic outlook and exchange rate fluctuations”. These are all factors that could “seriously threaten global food security”added Torero.
Meanwhile, vegetable oils and cereals lead the FAO food price index down.
Cereal prices thus fell by 11.5% during the month, but still remain up 16.6% compared to its value in July 2021. The prices of all cereals represented in the index have fall.
But the biggest drop is due to world wheat prices. They lost no less than 14.5% in reaction to the agreement concluded between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the subject of the unblocking of the main ports of the Black Sea.
According to the FAO, this drop is also due to the arrival of seasonal supplies from the current harvests in the northern hemisphere.
At the same time, world prices for coarse grains fell by 11.2% in July. International rice prices also registered their first decline in 2022, according to the UN agency.
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