World rice prices reached their highest level in the last 15 years in August, with an increase of 9.8% compared to July, after India imposed restrictions on exports, the FAO reported today.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) states that prices of all types of rice rose 9.8% compared to July, reaching the highest value in the last 15 years, reflecting the disturbances in trade following the ban on Indian white rice exports from India, the world’s largest rice exporter.
Sugar prices also rose, 1.3% compared to July, increasing the August average by 34.1% compared to a year ago.
Global food prices as a whole fell slightly last month, driven by falling prices for cereals, vegetable oils and dairy products, following the previous month’s rise due to the end of the Black Sea deal. .
The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly variations in international prices of food products sold around the world, reached an average of 121.4 points in August, 2.1% less than in July and 24% less than the March 2022 peak.
In more detail, the price of vegetable oils decreased by 3.1% in August, partially reversing the sharp increase of 12.1% in July, while the FAO cereal price index decreased by 0.7% in compared to July, after the increase compared to the previous month due to the end of the Black Sea agreement.
Specifically, wheat prices fell 3.8% in August, due to greater seasonal availability from several of the main exporters, while international prices of coarse grains fell 3.4%, due to abundant supply world corn, the result of a record harvest in Brazil and the imminent start. of the harvest in the United States.
The FAO dairy price index fell 4.0% compared to July, due to international prices for whole milk powder, abundant in Oceania, while meat prices fell 3.0%.
Global cereal production is expected to equal the previous record, according to a new FAO report that forecasts 2,815 million tonnes, on par with the record reached in 2021.
Source: TSF
