ANKARA
World food prices bounced back in August following two consecutive months of decline, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Thursday.
The FAO Food Price Index rose 3.1% month-on-month, averaging at 127.1 points in August, the UN body said in a statement.
Strong gains in the sugar, vegetable oils, and cereal sub-indices drove the increase.
The FAO Food Price Index is a trade-weighted index that tracks international market prices of five major food commodity groups.
Reflecting higher palm, rapeseed, and sunflower seed oil prices, the vegetable oil price index jumped 6.7% from July's five-month low.
Sugar surged in August by 9.6% in its fifth monthly increase in a row and hitting the price index's highest level since February 2017. This stemmed from concerns over frost damage on crops in Brazil -- the world's largest sugar exporter.
The cereal price index went up 3.4% on a monthly basis with reduced harvest expectations in several major exporting countries.
The meat price index was marginally up from July, while the dairy price index was the sole sub-index posting a decline in August.
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