Global Food Prices Rise 7% in Past Year, Poor US Wheat Harvest Cited - UN

Prices of cereals, meat and dairy products were 7 percent higher in June than in the same month a year ago, with poor harvests of US wheat cited as a key reason pushing up the cost of food commodities, according to a press release issued by the United Nations on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the rise in the Food Price Index — a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities — was largely because of surging prices of high-protein wheat due to deteriorating crop conditions in the United States, the release stated.

Rising prices of cereals, meat and dairy products have pushed the global food price index up by 1.4 percent in June compared to May and 7.0 percent compared to last year, the release explained.

Despite tightening supply conditions for high-protein wheat, the release cited an FAO forecast predicting that the overall output of cereal stocks would increase in the coming year.