Global food prices drops in May

DHAKA: Global food prices fell sharply in May, dropping four per cent from the previous month to their lowest level since September 2011, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization said on Thursday.

The FAO’s Food Price Index, a monthly measure of changes in a basket of food commodities, was nine points lower at 204 points, a statement said.

That was ‘due to generally favourable supplies, growing global economic uncertainties and a strengthening of the US dollar’, it added.

‘Crop prices have come down sharply from their peak level but they remain still high and vulnerable due to risks related to weather conditions in the critical growing months ahead’, FAO grain analyst Abdolreza Abbassian was quoted as saying, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1734 HRS, JUN 7, 2012

Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor