World food raw material prices fell by 0.7% in February compared to January, marking a decline for the seventh consecutive month.
The lower international prices for all the main cereals, in fact, more than offset the increase in sugar and meat.
This is reported by the monthly FAO index, which records a decrease of 10.5% compared to January 2023. Going into product detail, cereal prices decreased by 5% in February, reaching -22.4% compared to 2023 Rice also fell -1.6% in February.
Vegetable oils, with -1.3% since January, stand at 11% below the value of February 2023. The FAO sugar index, on the contrary, increased by 3.2% last month, as well as that of meat (+1.8% from January) and dairy products (+1.1%), driven by the greater demand for butter imports from Asian buyers.
As for the new forecasts for cereals in the world, according to the FAO they are slightly increasing.
The 2023/24 global use marks +1.1% compared to the previous year mainly due to the increased use of corn and wheat for livestock feed.
Positive sign for global inventories at a 'comfortable' level of 31.1%, up from 30.9%, as well as for world trade +1.3%.
According to the FAO, preliminary forecasts for global wheat production in 2024 are at 797 million tonnes, an increase of 1% compared to 2023. Lower wheat prices have caused a 6% year-on-year decline in wheat production. winter wheat planting in North America, where production may increase, however.
Favorable weather conditions are also supporting expectations of increased wheat production in 2024 in the Russian Federation, an export powerhouse, as well as in China, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.
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