FAO: 2023 ends with lower global food prices

The benchmark level of world food prices declined in December 2023 compared to November, averaging 118.5 points, 1.5% lower than in November and 10% lower than in December 2022, Azernews reports, citing Food Price Indices published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Overall for 2023, the index was 13.7 per cent below the average value of 2022, when prices for certain products, including cereals, peaked.

It is noted that for 2023, only the international sugar price index was higher, but in December 2023 there was the sharpest drop in international quotations of this product.

At the same time, the FAO price index for cereals increased by 1.5 per cent compared to November. Higher prices for wheat, maize, rice and barley partly reflected logistical disruptions that hampered supplies from major exporting countries. For the year as a whole, the index for cereals was 15.4 per cent below the 2022 average, reflecting good supply to world markets, the statement said.

The only exception was for rice, whose price increase reached 21 per cent, mainly due to concerns about the impact of the El Niño hurricane on production and the impact of export restrictions imposed by India.