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Global food prices rose to a 10-month high in March due to bad weather in the United States and Brazil and tensions in Ukraine, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Thursday.
FAO’s Food Price Index increased by 2.3 per cent from February, to 212.8 points.
However, FAO Senior Economist Abdolreza Abbasian said in a statement that “the initial fears over disruptions in grain shipments from Ukraine have subsided,” thus reducing the risk of further price spikes.
The Rome-based agency also said it expects global wheat production to stand at 702 million tonnes this year, 2 per cent down from 2013’s record harvest. Rice production is expected to expand by 0.8 per cent, to 500.7 million tonnes.
Such a “modest” increase, FAO warned, “might not be sufficient to match population growth,” meaning that global rice stocks could fall over the next agricultural season, “albeit from very high levels.” Food markets are closely monitored by FAO, as part of its efforts to tackle global hunger.
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