0
Global food commodity markets are on a stable path for the year ahead, with solid production prospects and abundant stocks pointing to a broadly stable outcome for prices and supplies, FAO said today.
Lower food prices than last year means that the world's food import bill are on course to fall to $986 billion this year - below $1 trillion for the first time since 2009 - even as traded volumes increase, according to FAO's biannual Food Outlook.
Also released today was an updated FAO Food Price Index, which rose in May for the fourth month in a row, increasing by 2.1 percent from April to 155.8 points - still some 7 percent below the level reported one year ago.
Prices rose across the index - a trade-weighted index tracking international market prices for the cereals, vegetable oils, dairy, meat and sugar commodity groups - with the exception of vegetable oils, which subsided after a strong hike in April.
The FAO Cereal Price Index rose 1.6 percent from April, led by a sharp increase in maize prices and buoyed by stronger quotations for Indica and aromatic rice varieties.
The FAO Meat Price Index rose 2 percent, spurred by brisk import demand from Asia for pigmeat from the European Union.
Thursday June 2, 2016/ FAO.
http://www.fao.org
