For the first time in a year, world food prices recovered slightly in April due to a rise in sugar prices, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said on Friday.
The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks changes in international prices for a basket of basic products, rose 0.6% from March. It is well below its level of a year ago (-19.7%), but it remains at a high level.
Sugar at its highest point for 12 years
The FAO Sugar Price Index increased by 17.6% from March, reaching a record level since October 2011. The reason: an expected fall in production in India, China and Thailand, linked in particular to the drought. In addition, the “slow start” to the sugarcane harvest in Brazil and rising international crude oil prices, which are driving demand for ethanol made from sugarcane, are driving prices higher.
With the exception of the prices of meat and rice, which also rose, all the other indices, and particularly those of cereals (-1.7%) and vegetable oils (-1.3%), continued to decline in April. World wheat prices fell 2.3% to their lowest level since July 2021 on ample volumes available for export in Russia and Australia.
‘Extremely concerning’ for rice
“It is important to continue to closely monitor price developments and the drivers of increases: as economies recover from a significant recession, demand will increase, putting upward pressure on food commodity prices” , said the Chief Economist of the FAO, Máximo Torero, in a statement.
At the same time, “the rise in rice prices is extremely worrying, and it is essential that the grain export corridor in the Black Sea be renewed (before it expires on May 18, editor’s note) to avoid any new peak in the prices of wheat and corn”, he stressed. In 2023, Brazilian maize production should reach a record level, the FAO also indicates. The country could then become the world’s leading exporter of corn. he only managed it once in 2013.
Argentina, another major exporter of this cereal that is suffering from a historic drought, should, on the contrary, see its production fall.
Source: BFM TV
