Food prices ease slightly in April after record surge, U.N. agency says

World food prices eased slightly in April after hitting a record high in March, pushed lower by vegetable oils and cereals, the U.N. food agency said on Friday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 158.5 points last month versus an upwardly revised 159.7 for March.

The March figure was previously put at 159.3.

"The small decrease in the index is a welcome relief, particularly for low-income food-deficit countries, but still food prices remain close to their recent highs, reflecting persistent market tightness and posing a challenge to global food security for the most vulnerable," said FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero Cullen.

Although it declined month-on-month, the April index was 29.8% 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 on Friday, the FAO slightly cut its projection of world wheat production in 2022 to 782 million tonnes, from 784 million last month.

The forecast factored in an expected 20% reduction in the harvested area in Ukraine and a projected decline in output in Morocco because of a drought in the North African state.