Food price index rises for 4th straight month led by dairy products, grain: FAO

SEOUL, June 10 (Yonhap) -- The global food prices index rose for the fourth straight month in May led by gains in dairy and grain prices, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Sunday.

The FAO Food Price Index gained 2.1 points to 176.2 last month from 174.1 in April, the latest data released here by the farm ministry showed.

The index is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities and can impact consumer prices of countries like South Korea that import food produce from abroad. Numbers have been climbing since February of this year after losing ground from August 2017.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said the latest data revealed price rises for cheese, skimmed milk powder and butter products brought on by a drop in production from New Zealand, a key supplier.

The dairy products index rose 5.5 percent on-month to 215.2 in May.

It said numbers for grain prices also rose 2.4 percent from April to 172.9, the highest reading since January 2015.

"Grain prices were affected by poor output prediction by key exporters such as Argentina and Brazil," the ministry said.

On the other hand, the index for meat, sugar, palm oil and beans all fell on better output and general improvement in supply and demand.

The index for sugar dipped 0.5 percent to 175.3 points, with meat price numbers falling to 169.6 from 170.4 tallied in the previous month.

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