TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced on Friday that global food prices increased by 2.4 percent in March compared to the previous month. This increase was driven by soaring energy costs resulting from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
As reported by Antara, this marked the second consecutive monthly increase in prices, which rose across all major commodity groups, including cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils, and sugar.
The FAO Food Price Index increased by 1.2 points, or 1 percent, compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the cereal price index increased by 1.5 percent monthly, reaching 110.4, and by 0.6 percent on a year-on-year basis.
Then, the Vegetable Oil Price Index averaged 183.1 points in March, which is up 5.1 percent from February. This marks the third consecutive monthly increase and an annual increase of 13.2 percent.
"International palm oil prices reached their highest level since mid-2022 and moved to a premium over soy oil, largely reflecting spillover effects from the sharp increases in crude oil prices," the FAO said.
Furthermore, the Meat Price Index averaged 127.7 points, a 1 percent increase compared to February and an 8 percent increase compared to last year. The Dairy Price Index increased by 1.2 percent from the previous month, reaching 120.9 points. However, it remained 18.7 percent lower than in March 2025.
Furthermore, the FAO stated that the increase was primarily due to higher crude oil prices. These prices raised expectations that Brazil, the world's largest sugar exporter, would allocate more sugarcane to ethanol production.
“Additional upward pressure on sugar prices stemmed from concerns over the impact of the Near East conflict escalation on sugar trade flows,” the FAO added.
Read: Crude Oil Prices Extend Decline to US$101.7 per Barrel
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