Global food prices dropped for a fifth straight month in August, but were still eight percent higher than a year ago, according to the UN food and agriculture agency.
FAO's latest global food price index, published Friday, shows that the prices of five commodities cereals, vegetable oil, dairy, meat and sugar were lower in August than in July.
On an average, rice prices held steady during August, while quotations for coarse grains, such as maize, rose marginally.
Vegetable oil prices fell 3.3 percent, which is slightly below the August 2021 level. The FAO attributed this to the increased availability of palm oil from Indonesia, due to lower export taxes.
The price of cheese increased for the tenth consecutive month, though milk prices eased following expectations of increased supplies from New Zealand, even amid projections of lower production in Western Europe and the US.
The price of meat dropped by 1.5 percent but remained just over eight percent higher than the value last August.
International quotations for poultry fell amid elevated export availability, and bovine meat prices declined due to weak domestic demand in some top exporting countries while pig meat quotations rose.
Sugar prices also hit their lowest level since July 2021, largely due to high export caps in India and lower ethanol prices in Brazil.
Bd-pratidin/Ishrar Tabassum
