The price of food commodities fell in May hitting the lowest level since September 2009, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO.

The UN agency’s Food Price Index averaged almost 167 points in May, down 1.4 per cent from April and as much as 20.7 per cent from a year earlier.

The index is a measure of the monthly change of a range of major food commodities, including cereals, sugar, vegetable oil and dairy.

Sandra Ferrari asked Concepción Calpe, a senior economist with FAO, to interpret this month’s figures.

Duration: 2’55” [early out: 2’03”]