Food Price Index Rises In October For 5th Straight Month: UN Agency

World meals costs rose for a fifth month working in October, absolutely recovering from the shock brought on by the worldwide coronavirus pandemic and with positive aspects seen in most sectors, the United Nations meals company stated on Thursday. The Meals and Agriculture Group’s meals value index, which measures month-to-month adjustments for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy merchandise, meat and sugar, averaged 100.9 factors final month, the best since January, versus a barely revised 97.8 in September. The September determine was beforehand given as 97.9. The Rome-based FAO additionally stated in an announcement that worldwide cereal harvests remained heading in the right direction to hit an annual report in 2020, though it barely trimmed its earlier forecasts.

The company’s cereal value index jumped 7.2 per cent in October from the month earlier than, some 16.5% above its worth a yr earlier. Wheat export costs had been pushed increased amidst shrinking provides, whereas maize hit over six-year highs, lifted by sturdy demand from China. Feed barley and sorghum costs additionally rose, whereas rice, in contrast, touched 7-month lows.

Common sugar costs surged 7.6 per cent from September and had been up 9.3 per cent on the yr, boosted primarily by the prospects of decrease sugar output in each Brazil and India, the 2 largest sugar producing nations, because of beneath common rainfalls. The dairy index climbed 2.2 per cent on the month, with all segments of the sector registering positive aspects, most noticeably cheese.

The vegetable oil value index climbed 1.8 per cent month-on-month, thanks largely to firmer palm and soy oil quotations, whereas the rapeseed oil part dipped on the again of uncertainty over demand inside the European Union. The meat index bucked the rising pattern seen elsewhere to publish a 0.5 per cent month-on-month decline, the ninth month-to-month decline since January, and a ten.7 per cent drop year-on-year, with quotations for pig meat as soon as once more dropping on the again of China’s transfer to ban imports from Germany following the detection of African swine fever in Europe’s largest financial system.

FAO revised down its forecast for the 2020 cereal season for a second month working, chopping it by virtually 13 million tonnes, reflecting decrease expectations for the output of worldwide coarse grains. Nonetheless, regardless of this discount, the company nonetheless anticipated a report harvest this yr of two.75 billion tonnes, up 1.6 per cent on 2019 ranges.

“Prospects for the 2021 winter wheat crop, which is already being sown within the northern hemisphere, are usually sturdy, reflecting the expectations of elevated plantings in response to increased costs in a number of predominant producing nations, notably within the EU,” FAO stated. The forecast for world cereal utilisation in 2020/21 was put at 2.745 billion tonnes, up 1.9 per cent from the 2019/20 stage. The forecast for world cereal shares by the shut of seasons in 2021 was 876 million tonnes, down 13.6 million tonnes from the earlier estimate posted final month.