World food prices stable in Jan after three months of falls: FAO

Saturday, 9 February 2013 00:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ROME (Reuters): World food prices stabilised in January after falling in the previous three months as a rebound in oils prices offset declines in cereals and sugar, the United Nations’ food agency said on Thursday.

The FAO Food Price Index, which measures monthly price changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 210 points in January, unchanged from December, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

The Rome-based agency also raised its view of world cereal output in 2012 to 2.302 billion metric tons (2.537 billion tons), up 20 million metric tons from its previous forecast.

Its outlook for world cereal stocks by end of season in 2013 remained unchanged at 495 million metric tons, which will be down three per cent from their opening level.