# World food prices drop in March

> The FAO Food Price Index averaged 172.2 points in March, down 4.3% from February. Declines were led by sugar and vegetable oils, driven by COVID-19 demand contraction and a sharp fall in crude oil prices.

- Date: 2020-02-04 · published 2020-02-04T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: report · region Global · magnitude medium
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/4955-world-food-prices-drop-in-march
- Commodities: [Palm Oil](https://feedsoft.ai/c/PALMOIL.md), [Soybean Oil](https://feedsoft.ai/c/SBO.md)

## Why it matters

Weaker energy prices reduce biofuel demand for vegetable oils and sugar, pulling vegetable oil prices lower. Demand-side weakness from the pandemic points to continued softness in edible oil markets.

## Read by commodity

- SBO: bearish ▼
- PALMOIL: bearish ▼

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PALMOIL | 2023-05-05 | [The measure of world food prices rose in April for first time in a year](https://feedsoft.ai/events/35977-the-measure-of-world-food-prices-rose-in-april-for-first-time-in-a-year.md) | +4.8% | -3.6% |
| PALMOIL | 2025-01-03 | [The FAO Food Price Index 2024 showed falling world sugar prices](https://feedsoft.ai/events/26626-the-fao-food-price-index-2024-showed-falling-world-sugar-prices.md) | -0.9% | +0.7% |
| PALMOIL | 2022-05-08 | [Global food commodity prices decline in July](https://feedsoft.ai/events/41443-global-food-commodity-prices-decline-in-july.md) | -0.6% | +0.9% |
| PALMOIL | 2023-03-02 | [Global food prices decline further in January](https://feedsoft.ai/events/12653-global-food-prices-decline-further-in-january.md) | -0.0% | -5.3% |
| PALMOIL | 2017-02-03 | [FAO Food Price Index edges higher in February](https://feedsoft.ai/events/8602-fao-food-price-index-edges-higher-in-february.md) | +0.7% | -7.2% |
| SBO | 2023-03-02 | [Global food prices decline further in January](https://feedsoft.ai/events/12653-global-food-prices-decline-further-in-january.md) | -0.9% | -7.6% |
| SBO | 2022-05-08 | [Global food commodity prices decline in July](https://feedsoft.ai/events/41443-global-food-commodity-prices-decline-in-july.md) | +0.7% | -5.3% |
| SBO | 2023-01-06 | [World Food Prices Dropped in December; China Demand in Focus; and Mississippi Barge Rates Normalize - Farm Policy News](https://feedsoft.ai/events/12186-world-food-prices-dropped-in-december-china-demand-in-focus-and-mississippi.md) | +1.5% | -4.4% |

## Sources

- fao.org: https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/World-food-prices-drop-in-March/en

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.