The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) benchmark index of world food prices showed a significantly higher average in 2021 than in 2020.
World food prices fell slightly in December 2021.
In its latest report released on Thursday, the FAO said international prices for vegetable oils and sugar have fallen significantly from their previously highs.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged 133.7 points in December, down 0.9 percent from November, but still 23.1 percent higher than in December 2020.
The Index tracks the monthly evolution of international prices of the most commonly traded food products in the world.
The only monthly increase in December was in the dairy sub-index.
Over the whole of 2021, the UN agency noted that food prices averaged 125.7 points, up 28.1 percent from the previous year.
“Normally, high prices would lead to higher production, but input costs, the current global pandemic and increasingly uncertain weather conditions leave little room for optimism that more stable market conditions will return, including in 2022,” FAO Senior Economist, Abdolreza Abbassian said.
The FAO Cereal Price Index fell by 0.6 percent compared to November, as falling export prices for wheat, amid increased supplies following harvests in the southern hemisphere, more than offset stronger maize prices due to strong demand and concerns about continued parchy weather in Brazil.
However, for the year as a whole, the FAO Cereal Price Index reached its highest annual level since 2012 and is up 27.2 percent from 2020.
Maize is up 44.1 percent and wheat 31.3 percent, but rice is down 4.0 percent.
For vegetable oil prices, the index fell by 3.3 percent in December.
This was due to lower prices for palm oil and sunflower oil, as global import demand was weak, possibly due to concerns about the impact of the rising number of cases of COVID-19.
For the year 2021 as a whole, the FAO noted that vegetable oil prices have reached their highest level on record and are 65.8 percent higher than in 2020.
As for sugar, the FAO Price Index has fallen 3.1 percent since November to a five-month low, due to concerns about the possible impact of the Omicron variant on global demand, the weakening of Brazilian real and lower ethanol prices.
For the year 2021 as a whole, the FAO Sugar Price Index climbed 29.8 percent year-on-year to its highest level since 2016.
Meat prices remained broadly stable in December, but for the year 2021 as a whole, they went up by 12.7 percent compared to 2020.
The FAO Dairy Price Index was the only sub-index to rise in December, gaining 1.8 percent over the previous month, as international prices for butter and milk powder increased following lower milk production in Western Europe and Oceania.
Cheese prices fell slightly, indicating that Western European dairy farmers have a preference for this product.
In 2021, the average value of the FAO Dairy Price Index increased by 16.9 percent compared with 2020.
TE/odl/lb/as/APA