FAO Projects Increase in Maize, Wheat, and Rice Grain Output

Prices of staple food increased in August, though the grain prices decreased and the outlook for global cereal production improved, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index.

For August 2016, the Food Price Index was 165.6 points, 1.9 percent higher from July and almost 7 percent from a year earlier. This monthly increase was caused mainly by cheese and palm oil quotations, while those for wheat, maize, and rice all went down. FAO also released the Cereal Supply and Demand Brief, which shows that the world cereal production forecast for 2016 was raised to 2,566 million tonnes, up 22 million tonnes from July projections. This forecast is attributed to the anticipation of a record increase in global wheat harvest this year and a large upward revision to this year's maize crop in the U.S. The expected increase in grain output is forecast to heighten inventories and push up the global stock-to-use ratio to 25.3 percent, which is an "even more comfortable (supply and demand) situation than predicted at the start of the season," FAO said.

Get more details from FAO.