ROME, April 5. /TASS/. Rising international quotations for vegetable oils, dairy products and meat pushed the benchmark index for world food commodity prices up by 1.1% in March, its first increase in seven months, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a set of globally-traded food commodities, said in a statement.

In particular, the FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index led the increase in March, rising by 8% from February and reaching a one-year high as quotations for palm, soy, sunflower and rapeseed oils all rose. International palm oil prices increased due to seasonally lower outputs in leading producing countries and firm domestic demand in Southeast Asia, while those for soyoil recovered from multi-year lows, boosted by robust demand from the biofuel sector, particularly in Brazil and the US.

The FAO Dairy Price Index increased for the sixth consecutive month, up by 2.9% from February, led by rising world cheese and butter prices.

The FAO Meat Price Index rose by 1.7% from the previous month, with international prices up for poultry, pig and bovine meats.

Meanwhile the FAO Cereal Price Index declined by 2.6%, averaging 20% below its March 2023 value. "The drop was led by decreasing global wheat export prices, which declined due to ongoing strong export competition - underscored by cancelled purchases by China - among the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United States of America. Maize export prices edged upwards in March, partly due to logistical difficulties in Ukraine," the organization said.

The FAO Food Price Index averaged 118.3 points in March, down by 7.7% from its corresponding value one year ago.