food prices

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.

The World Bank says international food prices fell by 6 percent over a four-month stretch and are the lowest in four years. Lower wheat prices drove the decline, says the bank's Food Price Watch.

Americans are paying noticeably more for the three main ingredients of a bacon cheeseburger - ground chuck, cheese and bacon - than a year ago, says the largest U.S. farm group in a semi-annual market basket survey.

The Commodity Supplemental Food Program is among a limited number of programs to get increased funding in the Republican-drafted bill to fund the government through Dec 11. The House Appropriations Committee said its package, unveiled on Tuesday, offsets food price increases so that no CSFP recipients would lose benefits. Chairman Hal Rogers of Kentucky said the 21-page bill "is free of controversial riders, maintains current levels (of spending), and does not seek to change existing federal policies."

Food prices will climb a modest 3 percent this year, close to the long-term average of 2.8 percent, said USDA in a monthly update.

Record beef and pork prices are pulling up the prices of seafood as consumers look for lower-priced protein, says the government in an update of the food price outlook. Overall, food prices are forecast to rise by 3 percent this year, roughly in line with the annual average of 2.8 percent since 1990. The Agriculture Department says pork prices are up by 12 percent since mid-2013 and it expects an increase of 6 percent for this calendar year.

In a monthly update, the Agriculture Department stuck to its forecast of a 3 pct annual increase in food prices this year.

Ahead of the annual meeting of the World Bank, the United States is calling on other nations to contribute to a fund that supports local food production worldwide.

The durable Thomas Malthus, who helped economics gain its nickname of the dismal science with his belief population growth would forever strain the food supply, takes a cameo role as the New York Times'...

President-elect Donald Trump, who recently told an interviewer, “I won on groceries,” said in a Time magazine transcript released on Thursday, “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up.” Meanwhile, a Purdue University poll found that consumers have lowered their expectations for food inflation.