Rome: Despite steady monthly increases for most of 2024, primarily driven by dairy, meat, and vegetable oil prices, the Food Price index overall remained below its 2023 levels, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said today.
For 2024 as a whole, the index recorded 122.0 points, 2.1 per cent lower than the average value in 2023.
Significant decreases in quotations for cereals and sugar were offset by smaller but not insignificant increases in prices for vegetable oils, dairy, and meat. The Cereal Price Index averaged 113.5 points for 2024 as a whole, down 13.3 per cent from the 2023 level, marking a second annual decline from the 2022 record level. The All Rice Price Index rose by 0.8 per cent from its average 2023 level, representing a 16-year high in nominal terms. The Vegetable Oil Price Index averaged 9.4 per cent higher than in 2023 amid tightening global supplies, while the Meat Price Index was 2.7 per cent above its 2023 average, with higher quotations for bovine, ovine, and poultry meats offsetting declining international prices for pig meat. The Dairy Price Index averaged 4.7 per cent higher than in 2023, due mainly to surging butter prices, and the FAO Sugar Price Index averaged 13.2 per cent lower than for 2023, for 2024 as a whole.
Meanwhile, as per the FAO Food Price Index monthly tracker of changes in the international prices of a set of globally traded food commodities, the benchmark for world food commodity prices declined in December 2024 compared to the previous month, led down by a drop in international sugar quotations. It averaged 127.0 points in December 2024, down 0.5 per cent from November and up 6.7 per cent from December 2023.
The FAO Cereal Price Index in December was relatively unchanged from November and 9.3 per cent below its year-earlier level, as a marginal uptick in maize quotations offset a drop in those for wheat. The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index in December declined by 0.5 percent from November though still 33.5 percent higher than its year-earlier level. The FAO Meat Price Index, in contrast to other subindices, rose by 0.4 per cent in December from November, ending a three-month declining trend, and stood 7.1 per cent above its December 2023 value. The FAO Dairy Price Index declined after seven consecutive months of increases, dipping by 0.7 per cent from November although still 17.0 per cent above its December 2023 value. The FAO Sugar Price Index led the monthly decline, dipping by 5.1 per cent from November amid improving sugarcane crop prospects in the main producing countries to stand 10.6 per cent below its December 2023 level.
– global bihari bureau
