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World Food Prices Rise In Feb, Boosted By Dairy Sector: UN FAO

By Dayeeta Das
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World Food Prices Rise In Feb, Boosted By Dairy Sector: UN FAO

World food prices rose in February, lifted in part by a jump in dairy prices, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 167.5 points last month, up 1.7% on January.

Despite the rise, the index was still 2.3% below its level of this time last year.

Sector-Wise Price Index

The FAO dairy price index jumped 5.6% from January's value, driven by strong import demand for skim milk powder, whole milk powder and cheese.

FAO's vegetable oil price index rose 1.8% from the previous month, while its sugar index rose 1.2% and its cereal index made marginal gains on January. The meat price index was also slightly stronger.

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Forecast

FAO lowered its latest world cereal production forecast for 2018 to 2.609 billion tonnes, against the 2.611 billion it forecast a month ago.

"The latest revision rests almost entirely on a lower estimate for the United States' maize output and reinforces an overall year-on-year decrease in global cereal production," FAO said.

The UN agency also made its first forecast for world wheat production in 2019, estimating it at 757 million tonnes - 4% above the 2018 level but short of the record high registered in 2017.

News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.

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