The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s October food price index came in at 133.9, down 1.2% from the previous month. That ended three straight monthly gains from July to September, but sugar rose for a fourth month and is 28.8% above a year earlier.
According to Kyunghyang Shinmun, the FAO’s October index, released in South Korea by the agriculture ministry on the 7th, stood at 133.9. The index sets the 2014-2016 average at 100 and combines prices of five groups, cereals, vegetable oils, meat, dairy and sugar, weighted by export share. It had climbed to 135.6 in September before easing this time.
광고 문의 · 300×250By group, cereals fell 4.5% to 116.8 and pulled the index down. Wheat slipped on weak international demand and a better outlook for Argentine output, while maize fell on larger US harvests and ample South American supply expectations. Rice, by contrast, rose 1.6% on harvest delays in some exporting countries, bad weather and higher production costs.
Sugar and vegetable oils rose
Sugar climbed 6.6% to 121.3, its fourth straight monthly rise and the highest since December 2024. Kyunghyang cited rain-hit harvests in Brazil’s cane regions, a weak Indian monsoon and expected output declines in the European Union and Thailand. The year-on-year increase reaches 28.8%.
Vegetable oils rose 0.3% to 199.2. Soybean oil reached its highest level since late 2022 on biofuel demand and seasonally lower South American supply; sunflower oil rebounded while rapeseed oil fell. Meat fell 1.2% to 125.5 and dairy fell 1.1% to 117.8, both weighing on the overall index.
Why it is too early to relax
The index hit a record 160.2 in March 2022, right after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. October’s reading is 16.4% below that peak but 5.9% above the same month a year earlier. Reuters reported that weaker international import demand pushed down cereal, dairy and meat prices, yet overall food prices remain higher than a year ago.
The dip can be read as a sign that price pressure has eased somewhat, but optimism is premature. Supply and weather could push prices up again, and a spike in one item such as sugar may reach consumer prices first. The effect on individual countries’ inflation was not confirmed at the time of writing.