World food prices rebound from three-year low, says UN agency

World food prices rebounded in March from a three-year low, boosted by increases in vegetable oils, meat and dairy products, according to the UN food agency's latest price index.

World food prices rebounded in March from a three-year low, boosted by increases in vegetable oils, meat and dairy products, according to the United Nations food agency’s latest price index.

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 118.3 points in March, up from a revised 117.0 points the previous month, the agency said on Friday.

The February reading was the lowest for the index since February 2021 and marked a seventh consecutive monthly decline.

International food prices have fallen sharply from a record peak in March 2022 at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of fellow crop exporter Ukraine.

The FAO’s latest monthly reading was 7.7 per cent below the year-earlier level, it said.

In March, the agency’s vegetable oil price index led gains, jumping eight per cent month on month, with all major oils registering increases.

The dairy index gained 2.9 per cent for a sixth straight monthly rise, driven by cheese and butter prices, while the FAO’s meat index added 1.7 per cent, reflecting higher poultry, pig and beef prices.

Those gains outweighed declines for cereals, which shed 2.6 per cent from February, and for sugar, which fell 5.4 per cent.