The global food price index broke even in March 2025 through balanced rises in vegetable oils against declines in sugar rates. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s Food Price Index, demand metrics influenced most changes.
While all food classes remained put at 127.1 points from February, cereals at 109.7 points and sugar at 116.9 points fell marginally.
Dairy remained unchanged at 148.7 points while meat improved by 0.9%, the last due to uptick global bovine meat demand.
It was vegetable oil however that balanced the act by edging sharply up 5.8 points from February, 23.9% year-on-year (y-o-y).
For sugar, the 1.4% monthly u-turn was bittersweet for just a month earlier it had climbed by 7.3 points after consecutive falls.
Weak Demand, Production Cuts
The decline in prices attends weakening demand worldwide which has in turn checked tight supply concerns.
Furthermore, March has seen the south-central cane belt of Brazil receive sporadic rainfall, another bearish factor.
Production woes in major producers somewhat ameliorated the sugar downturn to a limited 1.6 points month-on-month.
In late March, Brazil’s statistical agency Unica announced a 2024-25 production decline by 5.3% y-o-y, to 39.983 million tonnes.
Earlier on March 12, India’s sugar industry had slashed production estimates to 26.4 million tonnes from January’s 27.77 million tonnes.
Additional pressure came from the International Sugar Organization (ISO), which on March 6 upped the global deficit to -4.88 million tonnes. ISO also downsized worldwide output for 2024-25 to 175.5 million tonnes, a 3.7 million-tonne cut from earlier forecasts.
Although these production factors helped prevent a sharp monthly price fall, they could not help reduce the yearly gulf. Indeed, the sweetener according to FAO was 12.3% cheaper in March 2025 than it was a year ago.
Before the next sugar index update on May 2, concern now is on why sugar rallied slightly in one month only to lag again. The statistics below answer that question by tabling the most recent global sugar index tallies.
FAO Global Sugar Index Historical Statistics
Between November and January 2024, the global sugar price index curved downward consecutively from 126.4 to 111.2 points. By its last reporting in March 2025, the index was at its second lowest for the period, at 116.9 points.
There has been a pattern of sharp rises and then soft declines. These trace back to September 2024 when the index was on top form at 126.3 points. The table below, with data from Trading Economics, illustrates the trend.
Sugar Price Index between September 2024 and March 2025
| Month/Year | Index [points] | Change |
| March’25 | 116.9 | -1.4% |
| Feb’25 | 118.5 | 6.6% |
| Jan’25 | 111.2 | -6.8% |
| Dec’24 | 119.3 | -5.6% |
| Nov’24 | 126.4 | -2.5% |
| Oct’24 | 129.6 | 2.6% |
| Sep’24 | 126.3 | 10.9% |