Global food prices fell by 13.7% in 2023 compared to the previous year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said on Friday. The food price index calculated by the FAO, which tracks the variation in international prices of a basket of commodities, is down 15.4% over the year for cereals, “reflecting global markets well-stocked”, contrasting with the 2022 price surge linked to the war in Ukraine.
Wheat, corn and soybean oil in the lead
This decline is all the more notable for cereals, led by wheat and corn, as the FAO rice price index increased by 21% over this period, largely due to concerns about the potential impact of El Niño climatic phenomenon on global production and due to export restrictions imposed by India.
The biggest drop comes from vegetable oils, which fall by 32.7% in 2023, compared to 2022. A decline which continues in December, “soybean oil in particular being affected by a slowdown in demand from the sector biodiesel as well as by the improvement of weather conditions in the main growing areas of Brazil,” specifies the FAO.
Sugar production remains stable
Sugar is the only production to escape the general annual decline with an increase of 26.7%. But it also finally began to decline: in December, the index was down 16.6% compared to November, reaching its “lowest level in nine months”. The fall in sugar prices is “mainly due to the sustained pace of production in Brazil, as well as the reduction in the use of sugar cane for the production of ethanol in India”, underlines the UN organization.