World Food Prices Drop İn March Driven By Sugar's Sharp Slide

The FAO Food Price Index continued to decline in March, dropping 1.5 percent from February and 18.7 percent below its level a year earlier, according to the data released by Food And Agricultural Organisation (FAO) on Thursday.

"A sharp fall in the price index for sugar - which reached its lowest level since February 2009 - together with dipping prices for vegetable oils, cereals and meat, more than offset a rise in dairy prices and contributed to the lower index, which in March averaged 173.8 points" FAO said in the statement on the FAO Food Price Index.

The FAO Sugar Price Index fell by 9.2 percent to 187.9 points in March, on monthly basis. "This was mainly due to improved crop prospects but also the continued weakening of the Brazilian currency against the US dollar, which is supportive to exports" the FAO said.

The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged fell to 169.8 points in March, down 1.1 percent from February and as much as 18.7 percent below its level a year earlier. "The downward trend in 2015 has been mainly due to large export supplies and mounting inventories, in particular for wheat and maize" it said.

The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index fell by around 3.1 percent to 151.7 points in March, dropping to its lowest value since September 2009, while the FAO Meat Price Index averaged fell by 1.0 percent to 177 points, over the same period.

On the other hand, the FAO Dairy Price Index rose in March for the second consecutive month to average 184.9 points, up 1.7 percent from February.

(GRAPH) - Istanbul