Global food prices fell 1 percent in February to their lowest in more than four-and-a-half years, with cereals, meat and sugar declining, oils steady and only dairy prices rebounding sharply, the United Nations food agency said yesterday. High global production, low crude oil prices and limited demand from major importers including China have helped cap food prices for the past year and the index has now been declining since April 2014 to reach its lowest since July 2010. Cereal stocks at the end of the 2014-15 season are now forecast to reach 630.5 million tons, up 8 million tons from a previous reading to reach their highest levels in 15 years. Cereals prices were down 3.2 percent from January, meat prices fell 1.4 percent. Sugar prices fell 4.9 percent from January on higher output from Brazil. A slight rise in palm oil prices and an increase in biodiesel subsidies in Indonesia, lifted the vegetable oil price index by 0.4 percent. Dairy prices showed the strongest gains, rising 4.6 percent from January to post their first increase in a year.
