Ukraine Gate – Kyiv – June 5, 2022- The media of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported that global food prices fell moderately in May, for the second month in a row, despite the rise in wheat and poultry prices.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged 157.4 points in May 2022, 0.6 percent lower than it was in April, however, the index that tracks monthly changes in global prices for the food basket increased by 22.8 percent compared to May 2021.
The FAO Cereal Price Index rose 2.2 percent from the previous month. Wheat also took the lead, as its prices rose 5.6 percent compared to April and 56.2 percent compared to the same value a year ago.
World wheat prices, which are below their record high in March 2008, rose by 11 percent, in response to India’s export ban and concerns about the crop situation in several major exporting countries, along with a decline in production expectations in Ukraine due to the war, and rice prices rose. Global prices, while coarse grains fell 2.1 percent, and maize prices fell further due to a slight improvement in yields in the United States, seasonal supplies from Argentina and the approaching maize harvest in Brazil.
The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index has fallen 3.5 percent since April, but is still much higher than last year, as have palm, sunflower, soybean and rapeseed oils, partly due to Indonesia’s lifting of a short-term ban on palm oil exports and weak global demand for oil. Soybean and rapeseed oil imports due to higher prices in recent months.
As restrictions on exports create market uncertainty and can lead to higher and more volatile prices, lower oil prices have shown how important it is to remove restrictions and allow exports to move their own way.
It should be noted that the organization will provide financial assistance to Ukrainian farmers, and that the FAO has estimated the direct damage caused to Ukrainian agricultural cooperatives as a result of the war.
