FAO: Global food prices slide for second month in a row

Global food prices dropped 0.6% in May for the second month in a row after hitting a record high in March, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report.

The FAO’s food price index reached 157.4 points last month, down 0.9 point from April.

Physical prices of palm oil and sunflower oil reached all-time highs in March, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hampered exports of vegetable oil out of the Black Sea region.

Meanwhile, the FAO index, which has tracked monthly changes in the international prices of a basket of food commodities since 1990, remained 22.8% higher on the year.

Global wheat output in marketing year 2022-23 (June-July) is seen at 770.8 million metric tons, down 6.8 million metric tons on the year.

Global consumption decreased 3 million mt on the year to 768.6 million mt.