by Marie Kauna – EMTV Online, Port Moresby
FAO Food Price Index, an international organisation monitoring and tracking international market prices, has released a report highlighting a drop in world food commodity prices.
The international organisation who monitors five major food commodity groups – cereal, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar, has reported there has been a significant drop in global food prices.
In August this year, there was a drop by 5.2 per cent, which now has been monitored to affect the international food commodity market prices, and in the long run, will affect the global food production.
According to senior economist at FAO, Abdolreza Abbassian, “this is a deflationary period from a food point of view”, and “the pressure on food prices will continue until well into 2016”.
A combination of factors identified to have contributed to this drop in prices includes ample supplies of food commodities, a slump in energy prices and the slowing of China’s economic growth.
Adding on, Dr Mike Rivington of James Hutton Institute says, “these shocks have short-term impacts beyond food price rises”, however they will affect many”.
The effects of food production are now felt across Africa and the Middle East countries. A call has been made by the British and American Scientists taskforce for help deal with the severe food production caused by the dropping prices as this will affect many globally.
