With prices for some food commodities rising during the last four months, the UN’s FAO is predicting that global food prices are likely to remain stable for the next year.
FAO’s world food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of dairy products, cereals, oilseeds, meat and sugar rose by 2.1% in May to average 158.8 points.
Price increases for most commodities except vegetable oils resulted in the index’s fourth consecutive monthly increase following a seven year low in January.
Largest increases occurred in the sugar market, which rose because of production prospects in India, the world’s second largest sugar producer, while meat increased on the back of higher demand from Asia for pig meat from the EU.
Dairy prices rose by 0.4% in May due to the continued demand for milk powder and butter, but are still down by 24% on last year and are expected to remain weak.
January’s seven year low came after four years consecutive years of declines, and food prices on international markets in May were still 7% lower than May 2015.
Cereal prices have been affected by high yields over the last few years but weather conditions across the world may change that this year.
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