0
The FAO Food Price Index declined to a 55-month low in February, dropping 1.0 percent from January and 14 percent below its level a year earlier.
Lower prices for cereals, meat and especially sugar more than offset an increase in milk and palm oil prices.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged 179.4 points in February, down from 181.2 points in January and 208.6 points in February 2014.
Its ongoing decline - to its lowest level since July 2010 - reflects robust supply conditions as well as ongoing weakness in many currencies versus the U.S. dollar, which appear set to continue, said Michael Griffin, FAO's dairy and livestock market expert.
The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 171.7 points in February, down 3.2 percent from January, with booming prospects for wheat output explaining the bulk of the decline. Rice prices were more stable, with aromatic rice quotations increasing markedly, compensating for much the declines observed in the other rice varieties.
The FAO Meat Price Index averaged 187.4 points in February, down 1.4 percent from its revised January value. Beef and mutton prices declined, largely due to a stronger U.S. dollar against the Brazilian real and the Australian dollar. Pigmeat prices rose for the first time in eight months, helped up by the European Union's decision to provide aid for private storage in the sector.
Thursday March 5, 2015/ FAO.
http://www.fao.org
