The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has updated its global food price index on Thursday. According to the latest data for January of this year, it was an average of 135.7 points, which represents an increase of 1.1% compared to December 2021, when it was 134.1 points.
The rise is largely due to reduced supply of vegetable oils, whose prices led the index’s rebound last month, the UN agency said. As this index grew by 4.2%, driven by the rise in oil prices, it reached an all-time high.
“Reduced export availabilities, coupled with other supply constraints, notably labor shortages and adverse weather conditions, have largely pushed vegetable oil prices up to an all-time high,” explained Boubaker Ben-Belhassen, director of the FAO Markets and Trade Division.
In addition, in the same period there was a 2.4% increase in the price index for dairy products, especially for skimmed milk powder and butter. In turn, the indices for meat and cereals practically did not experience variations, showing slight increases, while sugar prices fell for the second consecutive month.
Meanwhile, the entire food price index is closing in on its all-time high from 2011, when it averaged 231 points.
