“World Food Prices Rebound in April: FAO Report Highlights Surge in Sugar Prices and Drought Impacts”

2023-05-09 09:34:39

For the first time in a year, world food prices rebounded slightly in April, driven by a surge in sugar prices, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said on Friday. ).

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks international prices of a basket of commodities, rose 0.6% from its March level. It is well below its level of a year ago (-19.7%), but remains at a high level.

The FAO sugar price index, however, rose by 17.6% compared to March, reaching a record level since October 2011. The reason: an expected drop in production in India, China and Thailand, linked in particular to Drought.

In addition, the “slow start” of the sugar cane harvest in Brazil and the rise in international crude oil prices, which is boosting demand for ethanol made from sugar cane, are driving prices up.

With the exception of meat and rice prices, which also rebounded slightly, all the other indices, and in particular those of cereals (-1.7%) and vegetable oils (-1.3%) continued to fall in april.

“It is important to continue to monitor price developments and drivers of increases very closely: as economies recover from a significant downturn, demand will increase, putting upward pressure on prices of foodstuffs,” said FAO Chief Economist Máximo Torero in a statement.

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