Global food commodity prices steady in March, says UN agency

Global food commodity prices edged up in March, with a sharp rise in vegetable oils offsetting declines in cereals and sugar, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Friday.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in a basket of internationally traded food commodities, averaged 127.1 points in March against a revised estimate of 126.8 for February.

The March reading was up 6.9 per cent from a year earlier but 20.7 per cent below a March 2022 peak.

For vegetable oils, FAO’s price index increased by 3.7 per cent from February, with quotations for palm, soy, rapeseed and sunflower oils all rising on the back of strong import demand, the agency said.

The price reading for vegetable oils was up 23.9 per cent from a year earlier.

FAO’s cereal price indicator was down 2.6 per cent from the previous month and now showing a 1.1 per cent year-on-year decrease.
Wheat prices fell, as concerns over crop conditions in some major Northern Hemisphere exporting countries eased. Maize (corn) and sorghum quotations also declined, while barley prices increased slightly.

FAO’s all-rice index fell 1.7 per cent from the prior month amid weak import demand and ample export supply, the agency said.
Average sugar prices dropped by 1.6 per cent, driven by signs of weaker global demand. Rainfall in southern Brazil contributed to the decline, though losses were limited by concerns about overall prospects in Brazil and also India, FAO said.

The meat price index rose 0.9 per cent on the month, with FAO citing higher pig meat prices in Europe after Germany regained food-and-mouth-disease-free status.

World poultry meat prices remained largely stable in March, despite widespread avian influenza outbreaks in some major producing countries, it said. The dairy price index was unchanged from February.

In a separate cereal report, FAO increased slightly its estimate of world cereal production last year, to 2.849 billion metric tonnes from 2.842 billion previously.

For 2025, FAO kept unchanged its forecast of world wheat production at 795 million tonnes, also little changed from 2024.

Meanwhile Global food commodity prices rose in February, driven by higher sugar, dairy, and vegetable oil prices, the Food and Agriculture organisation (FAO) of the United Nations said on Friday.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices of globally traded food commodities, averaged 127.1 points last month, up 1.6 per cent from January and 8.2 per cent from February 2024.

The jump was largely driven by sugar prices, which shot up 6.6% month-on-month, pushed higher by concerns over tighter global supplies for the 2024/25 season, partly because of unfavourable weather conditions in Brazil.

Dairy prices increased 4 per cent from January, with all major dairy products rising, spurred on by strong import demand which exceeded production in key exporting regions. Vegetable oil prices rose 2 per cent month-on-month and 29.1 per cent year-on-year, largely due to higher prices for palm, soy, and sunflower oils, driven by supply constraints in Southeast Asia and strong demand from the biodiesel sector. FAO’s cereal price index edged up 0.7 per cent from January.

Wheat prices increased due to tighter supplies in Russia and concerns over crop conditions in eastern Europe and north America, while maize prices continued to rise due to tightening supplies in Brazil and strong US export demand. Conversely, world rice prices fell by 6.8 per cent in February. Meat prices edged down 0.1 per cent on the month.

Agencies