UN body: Global food prices rise for 2nd month in July

Global food prices this July rose for a second month in a row, driven by higher vegetable oil and dairy prices, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Thursday.

Averaging 94.2 points last month, the FAO Food Price Index saw a rise of 1.2% or 1.1 points from a month earlier.

The FAO Food Price Index is a trade-weighted index that tracks international market prices of five major food commodity groups.

The vegetable oil price index posted the highest rise among all the sub-indices with 7.6%, a five-month high.

The FAO Dairy Price Index climbed 3.5% in the month, with all products from butter and cheese to milk powders rising.

The sugar price index went up 1.4% from June, as strong sugar crush numbers from Brazil only partly mitigated the effects of rising energy prices and the prospects of lower sugar production in Thailand due to a severe drought.

Last month the FAO Cereal Price Index was practically unchanged, averaging 96.9 points.

In contrast, the meat price index fell 1.8% month-on-month in July, the FAO said.