The Vegetable Oil Price Index dropped by 3.1% in August compared to the previous month after a short-lived increase in July, according to the benchmark United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index.
The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) tracks changes in the international prices of the most globally traded food commodities and the FAO’s Vegetable Oil Price Index illustrates changes in international prices of the 10 most important vegetable oils in world trade, weighted according to their export shares.
According to the 8 September report, the 4-point decline in the Vegetable Oil Index – which averaged 125.8 points in August – reflected lower global prices for palm oil, rapeseed, soyabeans and sunflower oil.
“International palm oil prices fell moderately in August, mainly underpinned by subdued global import purchases as well as seasonally rising outputs in leading producing countries in Southeast Asia,” the FAO said.
“World prices of sunflower oil declined by nearly 8% from the previous month amid weakening import demand that coincided with abundant offers from major exporters. As for soyabean and rapeseed oils, world prices dropped due to improving soyabean crop conditions in the USA and ample global exportable supplies, respectively.”
The FFPI averaged 121.4 points in August, down 2.6 points compared to the previous month, which pushed the index 38.3% below its peak reached in March 2022.
The drop reflected declines in the prices for dairy products and meats and cereals, as well as vegetable oils, while the sugar price index increased moderately.
