The price of sugar, vegetable oils, cereals, and dairy products all decreased in June, driving the world price index of the UN food agency to its lowest point in more than two years.

Compared to a revised 124.0 for the prior month, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) price index, which covers the most widely traded food items, averaged 122.3 points in June.

The May reading was originally given as 124.3.

The June score marked the lowest since April 2021 and meant the index is now 23.4% below an all-time peak reached in March 2022 following the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a separate report on cereals supply and demand, FAO forecast world cereal production this year at 2.819 billion tonnes, slightly up on last month’s estimate and a 1.1% increase on 2022 levels.

FAO said the higher forecast was almost entirely driven by better prospects for global wheat production, with the forecast lifted by 0.9% to 783.3 million tonnes.

FAO’s cereal price index dropped by 2.1% in June from the prior month, with maize, barley, sorghum, wheat and rice prices all retreating.

The vegetable oil price index fell 2.4% month-on-month, hitting its lowest level since November 2020, driven by lower world prices of palm and sunflower oils, which more than more than offset higher soy and rapeseed oil quotations.

The sugar price index fell 3.2% from May, marking its first decline after four consecutive monthly increases, mainly triggered by the good progress of the 2023/24 sugarcane harvest in Brazil and a sluggish global import demand, FAO said.

The dairy price index slipped 0.8% from May while the meat index was virtually unchanged.