World food prices hit lowest in nearly 5 years

Global food prices fell in March to their lowest in almost five years as supplies for most commodities, including cereals and meat, remained robust, the United Nations food agency said Thursday, Reuters reported.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 173.8 points last month, its lowest since June 2010 and 2.6 points below its February reading.

"We have quite a bit of a supply surplus in the market and that's definitely creating downward pressure across the board, except on dairy prices," FAO economist Abdolreza Abbassian said.

High global production and low crude oil prices have helped cap food prices for the past year and the index has been declining since April 2014.