Global food commodity prices steady in March, says UN's FAO

The March reading was up 6.9 per cent from a year earlier but 20.7 per cent below a March 2022 peak

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Global food commodity prices edged up in March, with a sharp rise in vegetable oils offsetting declines in cereals and sugar, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Friday.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in a basket of internationally traded food commodities, averaged 118.3 points in March against a revised estimate of 118.8 for February.

The March reading was up 6.9 per cent from a year earlier but 20.7 per cent below a March 2022 peak.

For vegetable oils, FAO’s price index increased by 8 per cent from February, with quotations for palm, soy, rapeseed and sunflower oils all rising on the back of strong import demand, the agency said.

The price reading for vegetable oils was up 23.9 per cent from a year earlier.

FAO’s cereal price indicator was down 2.6 per cent from the previous month and now showing a 1.1 per cent year-on-year decrease.

Wheat prices fell, as cancelled lower crop conditions in some major Northern Hemisphere exporting countries eased. Maize (corn) and sorghum quotations also declined, while barley prices increased slightly.

FAO's all-rice index fell 1.7 per cent from the prior month amid weak import demand and ample export supply, the agency said.