The food price index in March grew 2.1 percent compared to February, to 118.5 points, the indicator has been growing for the tenth consecutive month and reached its highest since June 2014, according to the press release of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Report informs.
The growth was primarily due to a significant increase in the price indices for vegetable oils, meat and dairy products, while the price indices for cereals and sugar declined. Thus, the grain price index in March amounted to 123.6 points, which is 2.2 points or 1.7 percent lower than the February indicator.
"Despite that for the first time in eight months this indicator has decreased, it is 25.9 points (26.5 percent) higher than the level of March 2020," FAO said.
The sugar price index in March amounted to 96.2 points, which is 4 points or 4 percent lower than the February value.
"This is the first decline in the value of this index after two months of steady growth," reads the press release.
The vegetable oil price index rose by 11.8 points (+ 8 percent) against February and amounted to 159.2 points - the highest level since June 2011. The persistence of high values of this index is mainly due to the increase in prices for palm, soybean, rapeseed and sunflower oil, according to the report.
The price index for dairy products increased by 4.4 points (+3.9 percent) to 117.4 points. The FAO writes that thus, the growth of this index continues for the tenth month in a row, as a result of which its value was almost 16 percent higher than in the corresponding period last year.
Finally, the FAO meat price index stood at 98.9 points - 2.2 points or 2.3 percent higher than the February level. The growth of this indicator continues for the sixth month in a row. “Prices for poultry and pork rose under the influence of active imports from Asian countries, primarily China,” the release says.