Global food prices fall 1.9 percent in August: FAO

Reuters

ROME (Reuters) - Global food prices fell in August for the fourth month running, driven by declines in cereals and edible oils prices, the United Nations' food agency said on Thursday. The Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) price index, which measures monthly price changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 201.8 points in August, about 1.9 percent below July's level. FAO said it had raised its forecast for global cereal production in 2013/14 to 2.492 billion metric tons, up 0.5 percent from its July forecast and 7.7 percent higher than 2012 output. (Reporting By Catherine Hornby)