The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) index of world food prices fell last January to its lowest levels in nearly 3 years, driven by declines in the prices of some types of grains and meat prices.
The organization said on Friday that its price index, which measures changes in the prices of the most widely traded primary food commodities globally, recorded an average of 118 points in January, down from 119.1 in the previous month.
Last January’s reading was the lowest since February 2021.
The organization said in its monthly report that “global wheat export prices declined last January due to strong competition between exporters and the arrival of recently harvested supplies to countries in the Southern Hemisphere.”
She added that corn prices also decreased significantly, a reflection of improved crop conditions and the start of harvest in Argentina, and increased supplies in the United States.
It showed that the meat price index decreased for the seventh month in a row, as the abundance of supplies from major exporting countries contributed to the decline in global prices for poultry, cattle and pig meat.
In a separate report, the FAO said that global cereal production in 2023 appears to have reached an all-time high of 2.836 billion tons, an increase of 1.2% from 2022.
Global production of coarse grains, or grains other than wheat and rice, hit an all-time high of 1.523 billion tons, revised up by 12 million tons this month.
“The bulk of the revision is due to new official data from Canada, China, Turkey and the United States, where maize production estimates rose supported by a larger-than-expected increase in crop sizes and harvested areas,” the organization said.
