World food prices drop for third month in November, says UN's FAO

Global food prices fell for a third straight month in November, driven by declines in sugar, dairy and oil - though cereals bucked the trend with a modest rise

World food commodity prices fell for a third consecutive month in November, with all major staple foods except cereals showing a decline, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday. 

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks a basket of globally traded food commodities, averaged 125.1 points in November, down from a revised 126.6 in October and the lowest since January. 

The November average was also 2.1 per cent below the year-earlier level and 21.9 per cent down from a peak in March 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the FAO said. 

The agency's sugar price reference fell 5.9 per cent from October to its lowest since December 2020, pressured by ample global supply expectations, while the dairy price index dropped 3.1 per cent in a fifth consecutive monthly decline, reflecting increased milk production and export supplies. 

 

Vegetable oil prices fell 2.6 per cent to a five-month low, as declines for most products including palm oil outweighed strength in soyoil.

Meat prices declined 0.8 per cent, with pork and poultry leading the decrease, while beef quotations stabilised as the removal of U.S. tariffs on beef imports tempered recent strength, the FAO said. 

In contrast, the FAO's cereal price benchmark rose 1.8 per cent month-on-month. Wheat prices increased due to potential demand from China and geopolitical tensions in the Black Sea region, while maize prices were supported by demand for Brazilian exports and reports of weather disruption to field work in South America. 

In a separate cereal supply and demand report, the FAO raised its global cereal production forecast for 2025 to a record 3.003 billion metric tons, compared with 2.990 billion tons projected last month, mainly due to increased wheat output estimates. 

Forecast world cereal stocks at the end of the 2025/26 season were also revised up to a record 925.5 million tons, reflecting expectations of expanded wheat stocks in China and India as well as higher coarse grain stocks in exporting countries, the FAO said.