Sugar rush leads world food prices to jump in September, FAO says
The UN’s world food price index rose to 124.4 points in September, driven by surging sugar prices, marking its largest increase in 18 months. Sugar prices soared 10.4% due to poor crop prospects in Brazil and India’s shift to ethanol production. Other commodities like cereals, vegetable oils, dairy, and meat also saw price increases.
ROME — The United Nations’ (UN) world food price index jumped in September, data released on Friday showed, posting its biggest gain in 18 months on the back of surging sugar prices.
The price index, compiled by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to track the most globally traded food commodities, rose to 124.4 points in last month from 120.7 in August, the highest level since July 2023 and up 2.1% on the year.
The sugar index soared 10.4% month on month, driven by worsening crop prospects in Brazil and concerns that India’s decision to lift restrictions on sugarcane use for ethanol production may affect the country’s export availabilities, FAO said.
The cereal price index increased 3%, led by higher wheat and maize export prices, while rice prices declined 0.7%. Vegetable oil prices gained 4.6% on the month, with higher quotations registered across the board for palm, soy, sunflower, and rapeseed oils.
Dairy prices rose 3.8% in September, with quotations up for whole milk powder, skim milk powder, butter and cheese, while meat prices edged up 0.4%.
In a separate report, the FAO marginally increased its forecast for global cereal production in 2024 to 2.853 billion tons from a previous 2.851 billion tons.
The increase reflected upward revisions to rice and wheat outputs that outweighed a minor reduction in global coarse grains production, FAO said.
World cereal utilization looked set to increase 12.4 million tons in 2024/2025 to 2.853 billion tons.
By contrast, the agency cut its forecast for world cereal stocks at the close of the 2025 season by 1.7 million tons to 888.1 million. — Reuters
Source: https://www.bworldonline.com/agribusiness/2024/10/07/626062/sugar-rush-leads-world-food-prices-to-jump-in-september-fao-says/
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