Bad weather triggers last month’s 2.6% rise in global food prices
The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s price index, which measures monthly price changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 208.1 points in February, up 5.2 points from a revised January index of 202.9.
Unfavourable weather conditions in the southern hemisphere and parts of the US were the most important cause of the rises, the organisation’s senior economist Abdolreza Abbassian said.
However, he said market nervousness about the crisis in Ukraine could affect prices in March.
“The situation in the Black Sea has created a certain level of worry in the markets. It’s difficult to predict how this is going to unfold but obviously we are in a very short-term price shock situation.
“Things could come back to normal once the Ukraine situation improves. Otherwise there could be more volatility in the markets for the foreseeable future.”
Markets are carefully watching a developing crisis over a Russian military intervention in the Crimea region of Ukraine, the world’s sixth-largest wheat exporter which ships to Egypt and other import-dependent countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
In February, prices rose in all commodity groups except meat. The strongest rise was in the sugar sub-index, up 6.2% from January due to concerns of crop damage from dry weather in Brazil and forecasts indicating a drop of output in India.
