ROME—World food prices dipped in May for a second consecutive month after hitting a record high in March, although the cost of cereals and meat both rose, the United Nations’ food agency said on Friday.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) food price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 157.4 points last month versus 158.3 for April.
The April figure was previously put at 158.5.
Despite the monthly decline, the May index was still 22.8 percent higher than a year earlier, pushed up in part by concerns over the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In separate cereal supply and demand estimates, the FAO said it expected global cereal production would drop in the 2022/23 season for the first time in four years, easing 16 million tons from record 2021 levels to 2.784 billion tons….