AKP Phnom Penh, June 05, 2026 --

International rice prices in May rose 2.7 percent from the previous month although food prices were generally lower, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) said Friday.

Referring to its All-Rice Price Index, the FAO said “weather concerns and higher crude oil and derived product prices underpinned quotations in some leading Asian exporting countries.”

The overall FAO Food Price Index was down 0.2 percent from April level but up 2.9 percent from May last year.
CEREAL PRICES VULNERABLE
“Global food commodity markets have remained broadly resilient,” said Boubaker Ben-Belhassen, director of the UN agency’s markets and trade division.

But "rising cereal prices underscore vulnerability to weather-related risks and disruptions in energy and input markets.

“Continued uncertainty affecting key trade routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, could reduce fertilizer use and place additional pressure on food prices, highlighting the need for coordinated international action,” Ben-Belhassen added.

The FAO’s latest Cereal Supply and Demand Brief — also released Friday — meanwhile forecast that use of cereals for animal feed would expand by 0.5 percent this year, although rice feed use is likely to decline.

World cereal stocks are expected to fall 0.3 percent over the same period, partly due to lower rice inventories.

Global cereal trade is predicted to fall 0.3 percent, although rice trade is forecast to expand 1.4 percent.

By Sao Da