The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) announced on Saturday that the international food commodity price index fell again in June, driven by a drop in the prices of all major grains and most types of vegetable oils. The organisation added that the index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices of traded food commodities, reached an average of 122.3 points in June, below 1.4 percent from last May and 23.4 percent from its peak in March 2022. The FAO Dairy Price Index averaged 116.8 points in June, down 1.0 points (0.8 percent) from May and 33.4 points (22.2 percent) below its corresponding value a year ago. The prices of grains were down 2.1 percent compared to a month earlier, with wheat, corn, rice, and barley prices all declining compared to May. While, the Meat Price Index averaged 117.9 points in June, virtually unchanged from May, increases in international quotations for poultry and pig meats were nearly offset by declines in those for bovine and ovine meats. The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index averaged 115.8 points in June, down 2.9 points (2.4 percent) from May and marking the lowest level since November 2020. The Sugar Price Index averaged 152.2 points in June, down 5.1 points (3.2 percent) from May, marking the first decline after four consecutive monthly increases. The FAO Food Price Index is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities. It consists of the average of five commodity group price indices weighted by the average export shares of each of the groups over 2014-2016.
