Global food prices rise in July

Shafaq News/ Global food prices this July rose for a second month in a row, driven by higher vegetable oil and dairy prices, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Thursday, Anadolu agency reported.

Averaging 94.2 points last month, the FAO Food Price Index saw a rise of 1.2% or 1.1 points from a month earlier.

The FAO Food Price Index is a trade-weighted index that tracks international market prices of five major food commodity groups.

The vegetable oil price index posted the highest rise among all the sub-indices with 7.6%, a five-month high.

The FAO Dairy Price Index climbed 3.5% in the month, with all products from butter and cheese to milk powders rising.

The sugar price index went up 1.4% from June, as strong sugar crush numbers from Brazil only partly mitigated the effects of rising energy prices and the prospects of lower sugar production in Thailand due to a severe drought.

Last month the FAO Cereal Price Index was practically unchanged, averaging 96.9 points.