The worst desert locust outbreak in 25 years has caused significant pasture losses across East Africa, mainly in agro-pastoral areas of eastern Ethiopia, central Somalia and northern Kenya. As sustained locust reproduction is expected until June 2020, the outbreak has a high probability to spread to southern Ethiopia, southern Somalia, northeastern Uganda and South Sudan. Immediate upscaling of aerial control measures is urgently needed to mitigate crop and pasture losses...

The month of December saw FAO’s three price indices related to the oilcrops complex appreciate. Month-on-month, the oilseed and oilmeal indices gained, respectively, 1.7 and 4.1 points (or 1.2 and 2.7 percent), but the strongest rise occurred in the vegetable oil segment, whit its index rising 14.1 points (or 9.4 percent) –marking the sixth increase in succession and the highest level since November 2017.

A comprehensive analysis of production, trade, and prices of bananas.

The Banana Statistical compendium, issued once a year, contains information on global banana trade. Its sources include information provided by FAO member nations, traders, news bulletins and the opinions of commodity specialists and represents the most authoritative and up-to-date source of information on the world banana economy.

Global meat output is forecast at 335 million tonnes (in carcass weight equivalent) in 2019, 1 percent lower than in 2018. This marks a departure from the stable growth trend recorded over the past two decades and indicates a sharper fall than anticipated in May, principally due to a deeper than earlier expected impact of African Swine Fever (ASF) in China and its spread to several East Asian countries. World meat...

International prices of wheat generally rose in November although large global supplies capped the increases, those of maize also increased except in the United States of America, where they softened amid a slow pace in export sales. International prices of rice fell to six-month lows, pressured by new crop arrivals and sluggish demand. In Southern Africa, food prices continued to climb steeply in Zimbabwe amidst an economic crisis. Elsewhere, tight...

The 2018 compendium offers an overview of salient government policies and related private sector measures concerning global and national markets for oilcrops and derived products. Its purpose is to facilitate the work of policy makers, market experts, analysts and other interested stakeholders by providing a short, concise, overview of policy developments relevant to the sector. Detailed news items are presented in tabular form (in English only), preceeded by a breief...