World food prices steady in March, UN's FAO says

PARIS, April 4 (Reuters) - Global food commodity prices edged up in March, with a sharp rise in vegetable oils offsetting declines in cereals and sugar, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in a basket of internationally traded food commodities, averaged 127.1 points in March against a revised estimate of 126.8 for February.

The March reading was up 6.9% from a year earlier but 20.7% below a March 2022 peak following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.