March witnessed a notable uptick in global food prices, marking the first increase since July, as the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reported on Friday.

Despite a continued easing in grain prices, cooking oil prices surged, contributing to the rise in the FAO’s overall Food Price Index by 1.1% to reach 118.3 points in March 2024. However, on an annual basis, the index remained 7.7 percent lower.

The sub-index for vegetable oils increased significantly by 8.0% during the month, reaching a one-year high. The FAO attributed this increase to climbing palm, soy, sunflower, and rapeseed oil prices. Palm oil prices saw an upswing due to seasonal declines in output in leading producing nations coinciding with robust demand in Southeast Asia. Similarly, demand from the biofuel sector propelled soy oil prices upwards.

Dairy prices also increased by 2.9% in March, while meat prices climbed by 1.7%.

Conversely, cereals prices declined 2.6 percent every month, and sugar prices fell 5.4 percent.

The surge in food prices follows a record high reached since the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022.

This recent uptick in food prices occurs amid a significant slowdown in inflation across many countries.