FAO cereal price index up slightly in January

The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 111.7 points in January, up 0.3 points (0.3%) from December but still 8.2 points (6.9%) below its year-earlier level.

Wheat export prices dropped very slightly in January, with little movements during the month. While weak import demand, leading to slow export sales from several major exporters, weighed on prices, tighter supplies in the Russian Federation and mixed winter crop conditions in parts of the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United States of America provided support.

World maize prices increased in January, surpassing their one-year-earlier levels for the first time in two years. Upward price pressure stemmed from seasonally tight supplies, unfavourable conditions in Argentina as planting finished, slow progress in Brazil’s main crop (safrinha), along with revised, lower maize production and stock forecasts in the United States of America.

Among other coarse grains, world prices of sorghum and barley increased, although the rise for barley was only marginal.

Meanwhile, the FAO All Rice Price Index declined by 4.7 percent in January, as ample exportable supplies and competition among exporters continued to exert downward pressure on prices.