 "World food prices drop to 19-month low")
World food prices fell in January to 19-month low, as costs for everything from sugar to grains slid amid ample global supplies, the United Nations' Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.
An index of 55 food items dropped to 203.4 points last month from 206.2 in December, the Rome-based FAO wrote in an online report on Thursday. The index is down 4.5 per cent from a year ago and is at the lowest since June 2012.
Corn was the worst performer in the S&P GSCI gauge of 24 commodities last year, sliding 40 per cent on an outlook for a record global crop. Sugar tumbled 16 per cent in New York in 2013 and extended the slide this year 1.6 per cent, as world supplies outpaced demand. In a separate report, the FAO said on Thursday that world grain production will be larger than previously expected at a record 2.502 billion tonnes.
The FAO's grain-price index fell to 188.4 points from 191.5 points the prior month, according to the report. Its gauge of sugar prices slid 5.6 per cent, while vegetable oil costs dropped 3.8 per cent and meat prices fell 0.9 per cent. Only dairy costs rose, climbing 1.4 per cent, the FAO said.
An index of 55 food items dropped to 203.4 points last month from 206.2 in December, the Rome-based FAO wrote in an online report on Thursday. The index is down 4.5 per cent from a year ago and is at the lowest since June 2012.
Corn was the worst performer in the S&P GSCI gauge of 24 commodities last year, sliding 40 per cent on an outlook for a record global crop. Sugar tumbled 16 per cent in New York in 2013 and extended the slide this year 1.6 per cent, as world supplies outpaced demand. In a separate report, the FAO said on Thursday that world grain production will be larger than previously expected at a record 2.502 billion tonnes.
The FAO's grain-price index fell to 188.4 points from 191.5 points the prior month, according to the report. Its gauge of sugar prices slid 5.6 per cent, while vegetable oil costs dropped 3.8 per cent and meat prices fell 0.9 per cent. Only dairy costs rose, climbing 1.4 per cent, the FAO said.