Swollen by record wheat and corn harvests, the global inventory of cereal grains will be the largest in 15 years, up 8 percent this year, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The stocks-to-use ratio would be 25 percent – a comfortable three-month supply, says FAO’s Cereal Supply and Demand Brief. While wheat and corn crops are record-large, FAO said the global rice crop for 2014/15 would be fractionally smaller than 2013 and “the first decline in global rice production to occur since 2009.”
FAO’s Food Price Index was virtually unchanged for the third month in a row. “The index appears to have bottomed out with higher probabilities for a rise in its value in coming months” said Abdolreza Abbassian, FAO senior economist, in a statement. The index is at its lowest level since August 2010.
“Quotations for most types of meat, in particular bovine meat, are at historic highs,” said FAO, but mostly stable for the month. Wheat prices rose during November “largely on less than ideal growing conditions in recently sown crops in North Hemisphere countries.” Sugar, dairy and vegetable oil prices fell during the month.