On Friday, the organization said the index, which measures the prices of the world’s most traded foodstuffs, averaged 127.2 points last month, down from 126.5 in March.
The March reading was initially at 126.9 points.
The Rome-based agency added that April’s rise reflected higher prices for sugar, meat and rice, offsetting the impact of lower grain, dairy and vegetable oil prices.
“As economies recover from a significant downturn, demand will increase, putting further pressure on food prices,” said Maximo Torero, FAO’s chief economist.
The sugar price index rose 17.6% from March, its highest level since October 2011.
The organization said the rise is linked to fears of a contraction in supply after downward revisions to production expectations in India and China, as well as lower-than-expected production in Thailand and the rest of the world. the European Union.
While the meat index increased by 1.3% on a monthly basis, prices for dairy products fell by 1.7%, vegetable oils by 1.3% and cereals by 1.7%. Lower world prices for all major cereals offset higher rice prices.
“The increase in rice prices is very worrying and it is necessary to renew the Black Sea Initiative to avoid any further increases in wheat and corn,” said Torero, referring to the Ukrainian agreement on exports of cereals.
In a separate grain supply and demand report, the FAO forecast world wheat production in 2023 to reach around 785 million tonnes, slightly below 2022 levels, but it represents the second highest production on record. .
The FAO also raised its estimate of world cereal production for 2022 to 2.785 billion tonnes from a previous estimate of 2.777 billion, down 1% from a year earlier.
The FAO has estimated that world cereal consumption in 2022-2023 will reach 2.780 billion tonnes, a decrease of 0.7% compared to 2021-2022.
World cereal stocks are expected to decrease by the end of the 2022-2023 campaign by 0.2% from their levels at the start of the campaign, to 855 million tonnes.
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