India, March 7 -- Higher sugar, dairy, and vegetable oil prices drive the overall increase

The benchmark for global food commodity prices rose in February, propelled by increases in sugar, dairy, and vegetable oil prices, according to the new Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) report.

TheFAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a set of globally traded food commodities, averaged 127.1 points in February, up 1.6 per cent from the previous month and 8.2 per cent higher than its February 2024 level.

The surge was largely driven bythe FAO Sugar Price Index, which rose by 6.6 per cent from January after three consecutive months of decline, reaching 118.5 points in February....