What's New

The FAO Food Price Index fell for the fifth consecutive year in 2016, according to the most recently released report. For 2016 overall, the Index averaged 161.6 points, which is down 1.5 percent from its 2015 average. Cereal, meat, and dairy prices all declined in 2016, more than making up for rises in sugar and vegetable oil prices.

The latest USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report was released in early December.

Ensuring food and nutrition security in the face of growing populations, increasing incomes, and a changing climate will require countries to transform their food systems to be more sustainable and equitable. A 2016 report published by IFPRI and the Compact2025 Initiative looks at recent successful food system transformations in Brazil, Rwanda, and Vietnam that helped significantly reduce hunger and undernutrition in these countries. The report provides several best practices and ways forward that other countries can use to launch their own improved food systems.

The FAO’s latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation Report for 2016 forecasts world cereal production at 2,578 million tonnes, 1.7 percent above 2015 cereal output. This gain is being driven mainly on larger maize and wheat crops. The Crop Prospects and Food Situation Report is published four times a year and provides a review of the food situation by geographic region; it also includes a section dedicated to Low Income Food Deficit Countries (LIFDC) and a list of countries requiring external food assistance.

The latest Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA) Bulletin from GIEWS, released on December 9, reports mixed but low trends for global wheat prices in November. Benchmark US Wheat (No. 2 Hard Red Winter) prices fell slightly from October and remain nearly 10 percent below November 2015 levels. This decline was driven by higher 2016 production and ending stock estimates, as well as a strong US dollar; however, falling prices slowed somewhat due to unfavorable 2017 weather forecasts in several wheat-producing countries coupled with strong import demand.