Global food prices fell further in September for the sixth straight month, driven by a sharp drop in vegetable oils that offset a slight rise in grains, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Friday.
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The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks international prices of a basket of goods, has fallen again since hitting a record high in March after Russia invaded Ukraine. In September it fell moderately by 1.1% compared to August.
At 136.3 points, it remains at a high level, “5.5% higher than a year ago,” according to the organization.
The FAO vegetable oil price index fell 6.6% in a month, hitting “the lowest level since February 2021”. “International prices for palm, soybean, sunflower and canola oil have all fallen,” the organization said, thanks to the existence of abundant palm oil supplies and a seasonal increase in production in Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, the FAO grain price index rose slightly by 1.5% compared to August. International wheat prices rallied 2.2% on drought concerns in the United States and Argentina and uncertainty about the expansion of the shipping corridor to carry grain from Ukraine beyond the month of November.
The organization has again revised downwards its outlook for global grain production in 2022. Due to unfavorable weather conditions, particularly in the United States, a 1.7% decrease from 2021 is expected.
“45 countries, including 33 in Africa, nine in Asia, two in Latin America and the Caribbean and one in Europe, are in need of external food aid,” the FAO warned on Friday.
Nearly a million people around the world are at risk of “catastrophic famine” and will die without humanitarian assistance in the coming months, the UN warned in a report released in September, a record number attributed in particular to the devastating drought in the Horn from Africa.
The FAO also forecasts a 2.4% slowdown in world grain trade for the 2022/2023 campaign compared to the previous one, due in particular to the war in Ukraine.