On an annual basis the decrease was equal to 3.1%

The benchmark for global food commodity prices remained broadly unchanged in July for the second consecutive month, as increases in international quotations for vegetable oils, meat products and sugar offset steady declines in quotations for cereals. This is what emerges from the monthly bulletin of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The FAO food price index averaged 120.8 points in July, marginally below the revised figure of 121.0 for June. The index is now 3.1% lower than its corresponding value a year earlier.

The FAO grain price index fell 3.8 percent from June as global export prices of all major grains fell for the second consecutive month. Wheat prices fell on increasing seasonal availability from ongoing winter crops in the Northern Hemisphere and generally favorable conditions in Canada and the United States of America, supporting expectations for large spring wheat harvests later in the year . Corn export prices also fell, as harvests in Argentina and Brazil outpaced last year and crop conditions in the United States remained strong. The FAO brown rice price index fell 2.4 percent since June, amid generally quiet trading activity for Indica and Japonica varieties.

Vegetable oil prices, by contrast, have risen 2.4% since June, hitting a year-and-a-half high. Global quotations for palm, soybean, sunflower and rapeseed oils rose, supported by robust demand for soybean oil from the biofuel sector and deteriorating crop prospects for sunflower and rapeseed oils in several major producing countries .

The increase in the meat price index was slightly more limited (+1.2%), in the context of robust demand for imports of sheep, beef and poultry meat, although pork prices decreased marginally due to a oversupply situation in Western Europe.

The increase in sugar prices was even weaker (+0.7%), as lower-than-expected production in Brazil offset the impact of increased monsoon rainfall in India and favorable weather conditions in Thailand.

Finally, the price index of dairy products remains unchanged, to the extent that the drops in the prices of milk powder have offset the increases in the prices of butter and cheese.