Global food prices fell sharply in July, driven by grain and vegetable oil prices, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced on Friday.
After reaching an all-time high in March after the invasion of Ukraine, the FAO Food Price Index, which follows the monthly evolution of international prices for a basket of basic products, has fallen by 8.6% in one month and remains at high levels.
The FAO index of the prix of vegetable huiles shoots in July of 19.2%, “tombant ainsi à son niveau le plus bas depuis 10 mois” sous l’effet d’une baisse des cours de toutes les huiles confondues et des prix du crude oil.
-14.5% for wheat
That of cereals sank 11.5%, “the biggest fall was blamed on world wheat prices, which lost no less than 14.5% as a reaction to the agreement signed between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the unblocking of the main Black Sea ports,” the organization stresses.
Máximo Torero Cullen, chief economist of the FAO, welcomes a “welcome decline, especially from the point of view of access to food”, recalling however that many risks still weigh on world food security, such as a recession or “high fertilizer prices and their potential impact on production and farmers’ livelihoods”.
Source: BFM TV
