Geneva press briefing on FAO's Food Price Index - August 2022
Boubaker Ben-Belhassen, Director of the Markets and Trade Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), speaking from Rome, informed that the barometer for world food commodity prices, which tracked monthly changes in world prices of five major food commodity groups – cereals, vegetable oils, meat, dairy products and sugar – had declined for the fifth consecutive month in August, as quotations for most benchmark items dropped. Food Price Index was down 1.9 percent compared to July although remaining 7.9 percent above its value a year before. The FAO Cereal Price Index had decreased by 1.4 percent from the previous month, while the FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index had decreased by 3.3 percent from July, reaching a level slightly below that of August 2021. At the same time, the FAO Dairy Price Index had decreased by 2 percent in August, while remaining 23.5 percent above its August 2021 value, and the FAO Meat Price Index had declined by 1.5 percent from July, remaining 8.2 percent higher its value a year ago. Finally, the FAO Sugar Price Index had decreased by 2.1 percent to its lowest level since July 2021.
Mr Ben-Belhassen explained that the lower prices were still not being reflected at the retail level, and the continued high prices of energy and gas were still keeping the production and transportation costs high. He opined that the recent decreases in world prices did not mean market stability. As long as the energy prices remained high, he expected that the food prices for consumers would also stay elevated. Lower production and higher prices of rice would particularly affect Sub-Saharan Africa, said Mr Ben-Belhassen in a response to questions. The Black Sea Grain Initiative had helped improve the global food situation, he said, but that had not yet translated to better access at the consumer level.
Source: United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Geneva
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FAO Markets and Trade Division