ROME, Dec 2 — World food prices rose for a fourth straight month in November to remain at 10-year highs, led by strong demand for wheat and dairy products, the UN food agency said today.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 134.4 points last month compared with a revised 132.8 for October.

The October figure was previously given as 133.2.

The November reading was the highest for the index since June 2011. On a year-on-year basis, the index was up 27.3 per cent last month.

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Agricultural commodity prices have risen steeply in the past year, driven by harvest setbacks and strong demand.

Rome-based FAO cut its projection of global cereal production in 2021 to 2.791 billion tonnes from 2.793 billion estimated a month ago, according to its cereal supply and demand outlook.

However, the expected world cereal output would still represent a record, FAO said. — Reuters

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