World food price index rises in June, first increase in 2020: UN

World food prices rose in June to post their first increase of 2020 and mark a slight rebound after the sharp falls triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 93.2 points last month, up 2.4 per cent on May.

FAO said it had rebased all its indices, shifting the base period to 2014-16 from a previous 2002-04.

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Amid continued market uncertainty, the prices of vegetable oils, sugar and dairy products rebounded to multi-month highs following sharp declines in May, while in the cereals and meat indices, most prices remained under downward pressure.

FAO also revised up its forecast for the 2020 cereal season by some 9.3 million tonnes, foreseeing global output of almost 2.790 billion tonnes — a 3.0 per cent increase on 2019’s record harvest.

The bulk of the monthly increase reflected an upward revision to Australia’s wheat production estimates.

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