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The international food price index was higher by 7.6 per cent in April 2025, compared with the corresponding period last year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said on May 2, 2025. Global food prices increased for the third straight month and were driven by higher prices for major cereals, meat and dairy products.
The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI), which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a set of globally traded food commodities, averaged 128.3 points in April, up one per cent from March and 7.6 per cent from the same month last year.
The FFPI is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities. It consists of the average of five commodity group price indices — cereals, meat, dairy, vegetable oil, and sugar — weighted by the average export shares of each of the groups over 2014-2016.
The cereal price index increased by 1.2 per cent from March on the back of global wheat prices edging up due to tightening exportable supplies in the Russian Federation. The FAO All Rice Price Index also rose on stronger demand for fragrant varieties whereas international maize prices rose due to seasonally tighter stock levels in the United States.
“Currency fluctuations influenced price movements in world markets, while tariff policy adjustments raised market uncertainty,” the FAO said in a statement.
The price index for dairy products increased by 2.4 per cent in April from the previous month to stand as much as 22.9 per cent higher than a year earlier. The rise was led by international butter prices, which hit a new all-time high due to declining inventories in Europe, according to the FAO analysis.
Meanwhile, the meat price index was up 3.2 per cent in April compared to March, led by a rise in prices of pork. Bovine meat prices also firmed, particularly in Australia and Brazil, amid steady global import demand and limited export availabilities.
By contrast, the vegetable oil price index and sugar price index declined by 2.3 per cent and 3.5 per cent from March respectively. The former though remained 20.7 per cent higher than its year-ago level.
“Palm oil prices fell markedly due to seasonally higher outputs in major southeast Asian producing countries, while global soy and rapeseed oil prices rose on the back of strong global import demand. Sunflower oil prices remained largely stable,” the FAO said.
The drop in sugar prices was recorded largely due to concerns over the uncertain global economic outlook and its potential impact on the demand from the beverage and food processing sectors, which together account for the bulk of global sugar consumption.