Title: World food prices tumble near 7-year low
Headings: World food prices tumble near 7-year low
World food prices tumble near 7-year low
Mixed harvests

Content: World food prices tumble near 7-year low
Futures & Commodities
World food prices tumble near 7-year low
Published Thu, Feb 4 20166:21 AM EST Updated Thu, Feb 4 20169:28 AM EST
Holly Ellyatt @HollyEllyatt
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World food prices slip to near 7-year low
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World food prices fell to almost a seven-year low at the start of the year on the back of sharp declines in commodities, particularly sugar, according to the latest data from the United Nations (UN). The Food Price Index, published by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), averaged 150.4 points in January, down 16 percent from a year earlier and registering its lowest level since April 2009. The trade-weighted index tracks international market prices for five key commodity groups -- major cereals, vegetable oils, dairy, meat and sugar – on a monthly basis. In January, the Sugar Price Index showed the largest declines having fallen 4.1 percent from December, its first drop in four months. The FAO said the drop was down to improved crop conditions in Brazil, the world’s leading sugar producer and exporter. The second largest declines were seen in the FAO’s Dairy Price Index which dropped by 3.0 percent in the same time period “on the back of large supplies, in both the EU and New Zealand, and torpid world import demand,” the FAO noted. The Cereals and Vegetable Oils indices both saw declines of 1.7 percent in January from the previous month and the Meat Price Index fell 1.1 percent. The main factors underlying the lingering decline in basic food commodity prices are “the generally ample agricultural supply conditions, a slowing global economy, and the strengthening of the U.S. dollar,” the FAO noted. Food commodities are not the only ones suffering from demand failing to keep up with a glut in supply with oil prices suffering a similar fate with a steady decline since mid-2014. Signaling no let-up in production, the food agency raised its forecasts for worldwide cereal crops in 2016. “