The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has reported that world food prices declined for a fourth consecutive month in December, mostly due to drops in dairy, meat and vegetable oil prices, marking the lowest average since January 2025.
The latest FAO Food Price Index released on Monday, which tracks a basket of globally traded food commodities, indicated that that the index averaged 124.3 points in December, from 125.1 points in the preceding month and 2.3% lower year-on-year
According to the organization, for the full 2025 year, the index averaged 127.2 points, up 4.3% from 2024, as higher global prices for vegetable oils and dairy products outweighed drops in the prices of cereal and sugar quotations.
The just published report showed that the diary index declined by 4.4% in December, due to a sharp drop in butter prices following increased cream availability in Europe.
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But then, the FAO reported that for 2025 as a whole, dairy prices averaged 13.2% above 2024, reflecting strong import demand and limited exportable supplies earlier in the year.
Similarly, the Food Price Index reflected that meat prices dipped 1.3% in the month under review, led by falls in bovine and poultry categories. However, the full-year index remained 5.1% above the 2024 value, supported by strong global demand and uncertainty linked to animal diseases and geopolitical tensions.
A further analysis of the FAO’s FPI revealed that vegetable oil prices eased 0.2% in December 2025 to a six-month low, as weaker soy, rapeseed and sunflower oil quotations offset gains in palm oil. For the whole year, the vegetable oil index averaged 17.1% higher than in 2024, reaching a three-year high amid tight global supplies.
Conversely the FAO Cereal Price Index rose 1.7% in December with wheat supported by renewed concerns over Black Sea export flows as well as maize buoyed by strong ethanol production in both Brazil and the United States. In the year under review, the report also showed that the cereal index averaged 4.9% below its 2024 level, its third consecutive annual decline and the lowest annual average since 2020.
This is even as the U.N organization reported that sugar prices rose 2.4% in December after three consecutive monthly declines reaching a five-year low for 2025, down 17% from 2024, as global supplies boomed mainly due to lower production in Brazil’s southern regions.
