The FAO food price index, which measures the monthly change in international prices for five basic food commodities settled at 213.5 points in October.The meat price index remained relatively steady at 174.3 points. The price of most meat types remained at similar levels to year ago quotes, with the price of pigmeat stabilising during October - reportedly the result of higher prices in Europe and Brazil, which compensated for falling US prices.
The only category to register an improvement during October in comparison to last year was the cereals price index, which increased 12% year-on-year, to 259.4 points - although easing slightly from the previous month. The slight fall in price on last month was largely due to weaker demand from the livestock and industrial sectors.
The sugar price (288.2 points), oil price (206.4 points) and the dairy price (194 points) indexes all declined in October, falling 20%, 8%, 5% year-on-year, respectively.
