Global food commodity prices continued to slide in November, with declines recorded across nearly all major staple categories except cereals, according to the benchmark measure released Friday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a basket of globally-traded food commodities, averaged 125.1 points in November, down 1.2 percent from its revised October level. The index has now declined for three consecutive months, standing 2.1 percent below its November 2024 level and 21.9 percent lower than its peak in March 2022.
The FAO Sugar Price Index averaged 88.6 points in November, down 5.5 points (5.9 percent) from October and as much as 37.9 points (29.9 percent) from a year ago, marking its third consecutive monthly decline and its lowest level since December 2020 for the second month in a row. Expectations of ample global sugar supplies in the current season continued to exert downward pressure on prices. In Brazil’s key southern growing regions, sugar production remained strong despite the seasonal slowdown in sugarcane crushing and lower use of sugarcane for sugar production. The good early season start to India’s 2025/26 harvest and favourable crop prospects in Thailand further reinforced the positive global sugar supply outlook and added downward pressure on prices.
The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 105.5 points in November, up 1.9 points (1.8 percent) from October but still 5.9 points (5.3 percent) below its level a year earlier. Despite a generally comfortable supply outlook and reports of good harvests in Argentina and Australia, global wheat prices rose by 2.5 percent in November, albeit from levels last seen in the first half of 2020. Wheat markets were bolstered by potential Chinese interest in supplies from the United States of America, concerns over continuing hostilities in the Black Sea region, and expectations of reduced plantings in the Russian Federation. International maize prices also rose in November, underpinned by firm demand for Brazilian supplies and reports of fieldwork being hampered by rains in Argentina and Brazil. World prices of barley and sorghum increased as well, with prices of all major grains influenced by higher soybean prices. By contrast, the FAO All Rice Price Index declined by 1.5 percent in November, as main-crop harvests in northern hemisphere exporting countries and subdued import demand kept Indica and fragrant rice quotations under downward pressure.
