UPSC Articles
FAO Food Price Index
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Economy
In news
- According to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO), World food prices rose for a seventh consecutive month in December, with all the major categories, barring sugar, posting gains last month.
Key takeaways
- The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) food price index is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities.
- It consists of the average of five commodity group price indices [cereal, vegetable, dairy, meat and sugar], weighted with the average export shares.
- It averaged 107.5 points in December versus 105.2 in November.
- For the whole of 2020, the benchmark index averaged 97.9 points, a three-year high and a 3.1% increase from 2019.
Important value additions
FAO
- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security.
- Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates to “let there be bread”.
- Headquarters: Rome, Italy
- Founded: 16 October 1945, Quebec City, Canada
- Parent organization: United Nations Economic and Social Council
