World food prices climbed for the eleventh consecutive month in April, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported, citing that the FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) rose by 1.7 percent from March and 30.8 percent from the same period last year, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
The FFPI averaged 120.9 points in April 2021, the highest since May 2014. Every component of the index saw a rise.
The biggest mover was sugar prices, which jumped 3.9 percent from March. FAO said the increase was due to speculation that sugar supply will fall due to slow progress on harvests in Brazil and frost damage in France. Despite a brief respite in March, FAO reported sugar prices are now nearly 60 percent above their levels from a year ago.
Grains and cereals, the largest component in the index, rose 1.2 percent in April over March and stood 26 percent above levels from April 2020. Rice prices declined slightly in April and wheat prices were steady.
Vegetable oil prices increased by 1.8 percent, with lower prices for sunflower oil not enough to balance out increases in quotas for soy, rapeseed, and palm oil.
Dairy prices were 1.2 percent higher while meat prices increased by 1.7 percent over the level of March. FAO said both sub-indexes were pushed higher by rising demand from China and other Asian markets and a slight decrease in supply from Oceania.
The monthly FFPI, a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, is based on worldwide prices for 23 food commodity categories covering prices for 73 different products compared to a baseline year.