Food costs fall to lowest since 2009
by Whitney McFerron,
2016-02-04 16:46:35.0
LONDON — World food costs fell to the lowest since April 2009 last month, the United Nations’ (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a report on Thursday, extending nearly two years of declines as farmers harvested bumper crops worldwide.
Prices for all major commodities sank in January in the UN’s gauge, which measures costs from grain to milk and sugar.
"The main factors underlying the lingering decline in basic food-commodity prices are the generally ample agricultural supply conditions, a slowing global economy and the strengthening of the US dollar," the Rome-based organisation said.
The FAO Food Price index slipped 1.9% to 150.4 points in January, Thursday’s report showed, falling for 19 of the past 22 months. Declines were led by a 4.1% drop in sugar, although costs of meat, dairy, grain and vegetable oils all slid 1% or more.
In a separate report, the UN raised its estimate for global grain production in the 2015-16 season, citing better-than-expected wheat crops in Russia and Canada and maize supplies in China. Output of all grains is expected to reach 2.531-billion metric tonnes, up from a December estimate of 2.527-billion tonnes.
Prospects for grain production in the next year are still uncertain as the El Nino weather pattern lingers and threatens harvests especially in southern Africa, the organisation said. Farmers in the US and Ukraine planted fewer winter wheat crops, but conditions remained favourable in the European Union (EU) and Russia, the report said.
Bloomberg
Women work in a cauliflower field in Kolkata, India. Picture: REUTERS
LONDON — World food costs fell to the lowest since April 2009 last month, the United Nations’ (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a report on Thursday, extending nearly two years of declines as farmers harvested bumper crops worldwide.
Prices for all major commodities sank in January in the UN’s gauge, which measures costs from grain to milk and sugar.
"The main factors underlying the lingering decline in basic food-commodity prices are the generally ample agricultural supply conditions, a slowing global economy and the strengthening of the US dollar," the Rome-based organisation said.
The FAO Food Price index slipped 1.9% to 150.4 points in January, Thursday’s report showed, falling for 19 of the past 22 months. Declines were led by a 4.1% drop in sugar, although costs of meat, dairy, grain and vegetable oils all slid 1% or more.
In a separate report, the UN raised its estimate for global grain production in the 2015-16 season, citing better-than-expected wheat crops in Russia and Canada and maize supplies in China. Output of all grains is expected to reach 2.531-billion metric tonnes, up from a December estimate of 2.527-billion tonnes.
Prospects for grain production in the next year are still uncertain as the El Nino weather pattern lingers and threatens harvests especially in southern Africa, the organisation said. Farmers in the US and Ukraine planted fewer winter wheat crops, but conditions remained favourable in the European Union (EU) and Russia, the report said.
Bloomberg
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