Sugar rises 28.8% in a year on rains in Brazil, while global food prices fall, FAO says
The FAO price index fell 1.2% in October, driven by cereals, meat and dairy; sugar posted its fourth straight monthly increase.
Translated from the Portuguese original by the Panorama newsroom. Read in Portuguese
Summary written by the Panorama newsroom from the sources listed below. Facts are attributed to the original publications.
The international price of sugar rose 28.8% in October compared with the same month of 2025, while the overall food price index fell, according to data released on Friday (6) by the FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and reported by g1.
Compared with September, sugar rose 6.6%, its fourth consecutive monthly increase, reaching its highest level since December 2024. The main pressure came from rains that disrupted the harvesting and crushing of sugarcane in Brazil's Center-South, the country's main producing region, combined with uncertainty about the 2026/27 crop in India, the European Union and Thailand.
The FAO index, which tracks international prices of agricultural commodities, stood at 133.9 points in October, down 1.2% from September. Even so, it remained 5.9% above October 2025 and 16.4% below the peak of March 2022, recorded after the surge caused by the war in Ukraine.
Cereals posted the biggest drop, 4.5%. Wheat ended four months of gains, amid weaker demand and better production prospects, especially in Argentina, and corn fell after hitting a three-year high in September. Rice moved in the opposite direction, rising 1.6% due to harvest delays and unfavorable weather.
Meat fell 1.2% and dairy 1.1%, with lower butter and cheese prices. Vegetable oils rose 0.3%; in the case of soy, prices reached their highest level since late 2022, driven by demand from the biofuels sector, according to the FAO.