World food prices fall in July

World food prices eased for a second month in a row in July, reflecting declines for cereals, vegetable oils and dairy products, but remained up nearly a third over the past year, the United Nations food agency said yesterday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 123.0 points last month compared with 124.6 in June. On a year-on-year basis, prices were up 31.0% in July.

The index had declined in June for the first time in 12 months, marking a pause in a broad rally in agricultural commodities fuelled by harvest setbacks and Chinese-fuelled demand. -Nampa/Reuters