Food prices have fallen for the tenth month in a row, as higher exports of wheat from Russia and Australia ease inflationary pressures, a report published Friday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said. The FAO’s food-price index, a closely watched barometer of global food prices, averaged 131.2 points in January 2023, down 1.1 points or 0.8% from December’s reading. Prices are now down 17.9% from the peak in March 2022, when the index hit an all-time high of 159.7 points following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The U.N. body said that much of the easing had been led by lower wheat prices but that grain prices overall were more or less unchanged from December with a FAO cereal price index reading of 147.4 points in January, a rise of just 0.1%. Wheat prices had fallen 2.5% during the month on higher Russian and Australian wheat exports, but strong demand for corn had meant flat grain prices overall. The U.N. body said that global cereal output in 2022 is now forecast at 2.76 billion metric tons – 1.7% below the 2021 outturn. Record output of wheat is expected at 794 million tons thanks to b …