Data showed that the UN's World Food Price Index jumped in September, recording its biggest increase in 18 months, supported by rising sugar prices.
The food price index, tracking prices of the world's most traded agricultural commodities, rose to 124.4 points last month from 120.7 in August, the highest level since July 2023 and up 2.1 percent year-on-year.
The sugar index rose 10.4 percent month-on-month as a result of lower crop expectations in Brazil and concerns that India's decision to remove restrictions on the use of sugar cane in ethanol production could affect the availability of exports in the country, FAO said.
FAO slightly raised its forecast for world cereal production this year to 2.853 billion tons from 2.851 billion tons.
"The increase was the result of improved rice and wheat production forecasts, which were higher than the slight decline in global hard grains production," FAO said.
Global cereal use is expected to increase by 12.4 million tons in the 2024-2025 season to 2.85 billion tons. In contrast, FAO cut its forecast for world cereal stocks at the end of the 2025 season by 1.7 million tons to 888.1 million tons.
