Food price index hits 6-year low

GLOBAL prices of major food items continued to fall in May, sliding to their lowest in almost six years, amid improved prospects for the production of cereals, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The FAO said in the latest update of its Food Price Index that forecasts on the harvest of grain crops continued to be favorable and the numbers even increased across the board—covering wheat, rice and coarse grains such as corn.

Between April and May, the index eased by 1.4 percent and settled at 166.8 points —the lowest since September 2009. The latest figure was also 21 percent lower than the 210.4 points recorded in May 2015.

The FAO index is trade-weighted and tracks prices of five major food commodity groups in international markets. It aggregates price sub-indices of cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar.

Last April, the index was at its lowest in about five years.

The latest projections by the Agricultural Market Information System (Amis) showed that the volume of global milled rice production for 2015 improved slightly despite climate experts’ outlook that the El Niño might strengthen toward the end of the year.

The Amis said in its Market Monitor report that rice production inched up by a million tons to 501 million tons from last month’s figures.