International food commodity prices rose for the 11th consecutive month in April, driven by strong increases in the prices of sugar, followed by oils, meat, dairy and cereals, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Thursday.
Averaging 120.9 points last month, the FAO Food Price Index saw a rise of 1.7% or 2 points from a month earlier. The index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly-traded food commodities, reached its highest level since May 2014, and in nominal terms is 12% below its all-time peak in February 2011.
The index was also up as much as 28.4 points, or 30.8%, from the same period last year.
The sugar price index posted the highest rise among all the sub-indices with 3.9% month-on-month in April and reached levels nearly 60% higher than in April 2020.
The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index rose 1.8% in April, driven by rising soy, rapeseed and palm oil quotations.
Last month, the meat price index added 1.7% from March, marking a seventh consecutive monthly increase.
The price indices of diary and cereal products both increased 1.2% last month.
