|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
Global food prices decline in March amid large available supplies
|
|
Saturday, 08 April, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
|
Rome
|
Global food prices, monitored by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), fell in March amid large available supplies and expectations of strong harvests.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged nearly 171 points in March, marking a 2.8 per cent drop from the previous month, while remaining 13.4 per cent above its level a year earlier.
The United Nations’ agency’s Food Price Index is a trade-weighted index tracking international market prices of five major food commodity groups.
It also released its first world cereal supply and demand outlook for the year ahead, expecting it to be “another season of relative market tranquility” with grain inventories remaining at near-record levels.
Meat prices exception
The FAO Cereal Price Index declined 1.8 per cent from February, led by wheat and maize. It is now roughly par with its March 2016 level.
The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index was 6.2 per cent lower on the month. Palm oil and soy oil quotations both fell in March on the back of improving production forecasts, while those of rape and sunflower seed oils also declined due to higher-than-expected availabilities.
The FAO Sugar Price Index declined by 10.9 per cent to its lowest level since May 2016 amid weak import demand and expectations of robust Brazilian supplies entering world markets as a result of strong harvests and slower domestic uptake for bio-ethanol production.
Buoyant milk supplies led to a 2.3 per cent monthly decline in the FAO Dairy Price Index, which, however, remained well above its year-ago level.
The FAO Meat Price Index rose 0.7 per cent, led upward by firm import demand from Asia for bovine meat and pig meat.
FAO's first forecasts for cereal markets in 2017-18
“Worldwide cereal production in 2017 is projected at 2,597 million tonne, just nine million tonne short of the record set in 2016,” according to the latest Cereal Supply and Demand report.
FAO’s first forecasts for the season hinge on climate conditions in the coming months and on farmers’ output price-sensitive decision on which crops to plant.
The slight decline from 2016 is due to anticipated reduction in global wheat production - now expected to fall by 2.7 per cent in 2017 to 740 million tonne - mostly on price-induced planting cuts in Australia, Canada and the United States.
By contrast, the total production of coarse grains in 2017 is provisionally expected to rise to a new record level of 1,353 million tonnes, substantially thanks to a surge in production in Brazil and Argentina, along with a rebound in South Africa after last year’s drought.
World rice production is expected to grow one per cent to 504 million tonne, as more plantings in India and Indonesia, along with higher yields in Brazil and China, should more than offset declines elsewhere, including in drought-stricken Sri Lanka.
Cereal utilisation and inventories
Global cereal utilisation is expected to grow by only 0.8 per cent in 2017 to 2,597 million tonne. The deceleration from last year’s 2.2 per cent pace reflects slower growth in the use of grains for animal feed as well as for biofuels such as ethanol.
Tallying both the output and consumption projections, FAO’s first forecast for world cereal stocks at the close of 2017-18 stands at 680 million tonne. That is down just two million tonne from the previous season and leaves the global stock-to-utilisation ratio at a comfortable 25.4 per cent level.
Wheat stocks are expected to rise 2.5 per cent to 246.6 million tonne, while maize stocks will likely fall by four percent to 207 million tonne on the back of large drawdowns in China and the United States. Global rice inventories are forecast to remain broadly stable at 170 million tonne.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|