World food prices fell somewhat in April after reaching a new high in March, but global food security remained a worry due to tough market circumstances, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
Last month, the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which analyzes the most widely traded food commodities throughout the world, averaged 158.5 points, down from 159.7 in March.
The prior estimate for March was 159.3.
"The small decrease in the index is welcome relief, particularly for low-income food-deficit countries," said FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero Cullen. "However, food prices remain close to recent highs, reflecting persistent market tightness and posing a challenge to global food security for the most vulnerable." Despite a month-on-month fall, the April index was 29.8% higher than a year ago, boosted in part by fears over the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
After a 17 percent increase in March, the agency's cereal price index dipped 0.7 percent in April. Wheat prices jumped 0.2 percent while maize prices fell 3.0 percent. Wheat was hurt by the Ukrainian port blockade and concerns about crop conditions in the United States, according to the FAO, although these concerns were largely offset by greater shipments from India and higher-than-expected exports from Russia.
Demand rationing pulled down prices for palm, sunflower, and soy oils, according to the FAO's vegetable oil price index, which fell 5.7 percent in April.
The sugar price index grew by 3.3 percent, the meat price index by 2.2 percent, and the dairy price index by 2.2 percent. The FAO decreased its expectation for world wheat output in 2022 to 782 million tonnes from 784 million last month in separate grain supply and demand projections released on Friday.
The prediction took into account a 20 percent fall in harvested area in Ukraine and an anticipated drop in output in Morocco due to the north African country's drought.
With nearly all crops harvested, FAO's global grain output prediction for 2021 remained steady at 2.799 billion tonnes, 0.8 percent higher than in 2020.
The agency raised its prediction for worldwide grain trade in the 2021/22 marketing year to 473 million tonnes, up 3.7 million tonnes from last month's estimate but 1.2 percent behind the record level set in 2020/21.
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