World food prices edged lower in June as declines in sugar, cereals and dairy outweighed increases in vegetable oils and meat, 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 130.3 points in June, down from 130.8 points in May. The index had already fallen in May to come off a three-year high reached in April, when the Iran war led to a jump in vegetable oil prices. The June reading was 1.7% higher than a year earlier but 18.7% below its record peak in March 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the FAO said.
