Geneva press briefing: Increase in April's global food prices index, marking the first rise in a year

Geneva – Upali Galketi Aratchilage, Senior Economist at the FAO Markets and Trade Division, addressed the Geneva press corp on the latest updates of the FAO Food Price Index for April 2023 at the Biweekly Press Briefing organized by the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva.

Aratchilage said that, after falling consecutively for twelve months since reaching its peak in March 2022, the index had rebounded for the first time - 0.6 percent – in April. The rebound in the index in April resulted from a steep increase in the sugar price index, with a small upturn in the meat price index, whereas price indices for cereals, dairy and vegetable oils continued to fall.

He explained that several factors were behind this steep increase in the sugar price index, including: the downward revisions to production forecasts for India and China; lower-than-earlier expected outputs in Thailand and the European Union; the slow start to Brazil’s sugarcane harvest; higher international crude oil prices, which led to an increase in demand for sugar as a biofuel input; and the appreciation of the Brazilian real.

Meat prices also increased in April, again moderately, as international price quotations for pig, poultry, and bovine meats all increased, largely reflecting tight supply conditions across leading exporting countries.

However, all other indices, including cereals, vegetable oils and sugar, declined. On the Cereal Price Index, price quotations for wheat, maize, barley and sorghum declined, more than offsetting an increase in rice price quotations. The decline in wheat prices reflected large export availabilities in the Russian Federation and Australia, as well as good crop conditions in Europe and the agreement to allow Ukrainian grain exports to pass through the EU Member countries.

Answering journalists’ questions, he responded that it was hoped that the Black Sea Grain Initiative would be extended. If that were not the case, it would have multiple impacts and food prices could increase once again, said Aratchilage. That would have impact on both Ukrainian farmers and the global food situation. He said that FAO had observed some local prices increasing while international food prices going down and added that prices at retail level and at the international level could be different for a variety of reasons.

FAO Liaison Office in Geneva

Based in Geneva, a hub of international cooperation and multilateral diplomacy, FAO Liaison Office (LOG) promotes to the Geneva-based partners FAO’s contribution to the 2030 Agenda through its 2022-31 Strategic Framework. Moreover, the Liaison Office monitors and informs the Geneva-based deliberations to strategically position the Organization in line with its mandate and champion key thematic issues. As part of its liaison work, FAO in Geneva cooperates with the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva to communicate and highlight the role of food and agriculture in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).