Food Price Index

World food prices rose 3.9 percent in October, said the FAO, reporting "the sharpest increase since July 2012" in its Food Price Index.

Lower dairy and vegetable oil prices helped pull down the Food Price Index to its lowest reading since September 2009, said the FAO: "Prices for dairy commodities fell across the board, with milk powders being most affected, followed by cheese and butter."

An extended dry spell will slash the corn harvest in southern Africa by 26 percent from last year's bumper harvest, according to a quarterly FAO report. Corn is the major grain in the region, accounting for 80 percent of cereal production.

Global food prices, on the decline since last April, are 14-percent lower than a year ago, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The Food Price Index "has now reached its lowest value since July 2010," said the FAO.

The world Food Price Index, on a downward path since last April, fell by 1.9 percent in January, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. "Lower prices reflect strong production expectations," said FAO.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization says its meat price index rose by 8 percent during 2014 while the other elements in its Food Price Index - cereal grains, vegetable oils, dairy products and sugar - fell.

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.

Lower dairy and meat prices led to a decline in the world Food Price Index for the seventh month in a row, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

The global Food Price Index is down for the sixth month in a row, says the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. Sugar and dairy prices dropped by the largest amounts, followed by grains and oils.