World food prices ease in June, dairy prices plunge, says FAO

Nancy Adhiambo, cereal trader goes about her duty at Jubilee Market in Kisumu on April 17,2019. (Denish Ochieng/ Standard)

World food prices eased slightly in June, ending a run of five months of consecutive gains, pushed down by a plunge in the price of dairy products, the United Nations food agency said.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) also kept its forecast for worldwide cereal production in 2019 unchanged from June but up some 1.2 per cent on 2018 levels, with most of the growth expected to come from higher wheat production.

FAO’s food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat, and sugar, averaged 173.0 points last month from an upwardly revised 173.5 points in May. That figure was previously given as 172.4.

The FAO dairy price index plummeted 11.9 per cent from May’s value, but was still up 9.4 per cent since the start of the year, with June’s price weakness triggered by increased export opportunities and weak import demand.

The FAO vegetable price index also fell, dropping 1.6 per cent month-on-month and touching its lowest level since December, hit primarily by weakening palm oil and soy oil prices.  


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