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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

FAO says food prices rise by 2%


The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has said that food prices has risen by two per cent.
FAO in its latest Food Price Index datasets revealed that the price index of food increased by almost 2 per cent in January 2012.
The Food Price Index datasets made available to NaijaAgroNet showed an increase of nearly 2 per cent, exactly 4 points in food price index with oils in the lead; recording the highest increase.
Foods items topping the list include cereals, sugar, dairy products and meat, even as the index stood at 214 as at January 2012, which is 7 per cent lower to the record of January 2011.
Speaking on the dataset, a Senior Grains Economist at FAO, Abdolreza Abbassian said that the index could not be traced directly to the value of the dollar and oil prices which were much involved in January.
"But one reason is poor weather currently affecting key growing regions like South America and Europe. It has played a role and remains a cause for concern,” he said.
NaijaAgroNet also gathered that international prices of all major cereals with the exception of rice rose, with maize gaining most, which is 6 per cent. Wheat prices also gained, though less significantly.
The fear of a decline in the export supplies in the Commonwealth of Independent States also played a part in the increase as prices mostly reflect worries about weather conditions affecting 2012 crops in several major producing regions.
A latest forecast by FAO on world cereal production also revealed that cereal production is expected to be more than sufficient to cover anticipated utilization in 2011/2012 as production is expected to reach 2,327 million tones, a 3.6 per cent more than that of 2010, hence a new record.
 'Yinka Awosanya/LS
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