The United Nations food agency’s world price index fell marginally in November, marking an eighth straight monthly fall since a record high in March after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The October figure was unchanged from the FAO’s previous estimate. Lower readings for cereals, meat and dairy products in November offset higher prices for vegetable oils and sugar, the FAO said.
Last month’s agreement to prolong a UN -backed grain export channel from Ukraine for another 120 days has tempered worries about war disruption to massive Black Sea trade.
The slight decrease in November meant that the FAO food index is now only 0.3% above its level a year earlier, the agency said. In separate cereal supply and demand estimates, the FAO lowered its forecast for global cereal production in 2022 to2.756 billion tonnes from 2.764 billion estimated last month.
The forecast was 2% below the estimated output for 2021 and would mark a three-year low, the FAO said.
🔵 Global #FoodPrices overall hold steady in Nov and they are now only 0.3% higher than their level in Nov 2021.
2022 world cereal output forecast lowered to 2 756 million tonnes, a 2.0% drop from 2021.https://t.co/LWPbLx4Dbk
— FAO Newsroom (@FAOnews) December 2, 2022
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