Food Price Index of FAO

January 7, 2021

The Food and Agriculture Organization recently released the Food Price Index. The Food Price Index has been released for the seventh consecutive month in December 2019.

Key Highlights

The food price index for the month of December was 100 7.5 points.
The food price index for the month of November was 105.2
the Food and Agriculture Organisation calculates the food price index measuring the monthly changes of a basket of oilseeds, cereals, meat, dairy products and sugar.
The food crisis of all the major categories increased for the seventh consecutive month barring sugar.
For the year of 2020, the food price index was 97.9 point. This is a three-year high and 3.1 % increase as compared to that of 2019.
The historical peak of the food price index occurred in 2011.

Oil prices

The vegetable oil prices increased by 4.7 % in December 2019 as compared to that of the previous month. This price increase was mainly due to the supply restrictions in major oil producing countries. Especially the trade of palm oil was affected due to a sharp hike in the export duties of Indonesia. Also, the prices of soy oil increased due to the prolonged strikes in Argentina.

Cereals

The price rise of cereals increased by 1.1 % in December 2019. For the year 2020 the price rise of the cereals was 6.6 % more than that of 2019 level. The export prices of sorghum, wheat, rice and Maize increased mainly due to price rise in North and South American countries as well as Russia.

Dairy

The price rise of dairy products increased by 3.2 % in December 2019 as compared to that of the previous month. In 2020, the overall price of dairy products was one percent less than that of 2019.

Meat

The meat index increased by 1.7% in the month of December 2019. The prices of poultry in December 2019 rebounded due to the outbreak of Avian influenza in Europe. The Pig meat trade declined due to the suspension of German exports to Asian Markets and also due to African swine fever outbreak.

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