UN: Global food prices sustain sharpest fall in seven years
Global food prices suffered the steepest monthly drop in seven years last month, due to low global oil prices and concern over a slowdown in the Chinese economy.
The United Nation's (UN) food price index averaged 155.7 points, down 5.2 per cent from a month earlier, marking the steepest monthly drop since December 2008.
The index tracks international market prices for the major food groups such as cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar. Virtually all of them registered a marked dip.
Read more: Farmers stage huge protest in Brussels against falling milk prices
"Ample supplies, a slump in energy prices and concerns over China's economic slowdown all contributed to the sharpest fall of the FAO Food Price Index in almost seven years," the Food and agriculture organisation of the United Nations said.
Earlier this week thousands of farmers gathered outside of the headquarters of the European Union to protest against falling milk prices in Europe.
Since then the European Commission agreed to release €500m ($557m) in emergency funds to ease pressure on the region's farmers.