Agricultural Prices
FDF has collated statistics on commodity prices during the period 2000-2007.
This section contains details of trends in UK agricultural raw material prices
for:
- cereals (wheat; maize; barley; and oats)
- dairy (butter; skimmed milk powder; and cheese)
- meat, poultry and eggs (beef; pigmeat; sheepmeat; poultry; and eggs)
- oilseeds (palm oil; rapeseed; sunflower seeds; and soybeans).
Background on Rising Commodity Prices
Access to agricultural raw materials at competitive prices is important for food
and drink manufacturers because, depending on the sector and product, they
account for 30-80% of total production costs1.
Since 2000, prices for agricultural raw material have increased dramatically on
the global market, with unprecedented rises occurring in 2006. There are
various
reasons for this. They include extreme weather conditions which have given rise
to droughts and floods and thereby adversely affected supplies; increased
demand
for food and feed (e.g. in rapidly growing economies such as China and India)
and
for biofuels; and a fall in global stocks.
1Confédération des Industries Agro-Alimentaires (CIAA) Member Survey 2007
More Information
Contact Caroline Fox, Sustainability and Competitiveness, at: Caroline.Fox@fdf.org.uk,
or 020 7420 7103.
Last reviewed: 10 Jan 2008