Global food prices dropped for a fifth straight month in August, but were still eight percent higher than a year ago, according to the UN food and agriculture agency.

The cost of food has been one of the biggest contributors to inflation around the world.

FAO's latest global food price index, published Friday, shows that the prices of five commodities – cereals, vegetable oil, dairy, meat and sugar – were lower in August than in July.

The index, which measures the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, averaged 138.0 points last month, down nearly two percent from July, though 7.9 percent above the value a year before.

The decline in cereal prices reflected improved production prospects in North America and Russia and the resumption of exports from Black Sea ports in Ukraine.

A landmark agreement to unblock Ukraine's grain exports amid the ongoing war was signed in July by the country, Russia, Türkiye and the UN. 

Read: UN food price index dropped in July for fourth month

Rice prices on average held steady during August, while quotations for coarse grains, such as maize, rose marginally.  

Vegetable oil prices fell 3.3 percent, which is slightly below the August 2021 level. The FAO attributed this to the increased availability of palm oil from Indonesia, due to lower export taxes, and the resumption of sunflower oil shipments from Ukraine.

Although dairy prices saw a two percent drop, they remained 23.5 percent higher than in August 2021.

The price of cheese increased for the tenth consecutive month, though milk prices eased following expectations of increased supplies from New Zealand, even amid projections of lower production in Western Europe and the US.

The price of meat dropped by 1.5 percent but remained just over eight percent higher than the value last August.

International quotations for poultry fell amid elevated export availability, and bovine meat prices declined due to weak domestic demand in some top exporting countries while pig meat quotations rose.

Sugar prices also hit their lowest level since July 2021, largely due to high export caps in India and lower ethanol prices in Brazil.

The FAO also issued its global cereal production forecast for this year, which projects a decline of nearly 40 million tonnes or 1.4 percent from the previous year.

The bulk of this decline mainly concerns coarse grains, with maize yields in Europe expected to drop 16 percent below their five-year average level due to the exceptionally hot and dry weather conditions affecting the continent.

However, the UN agency expects there will be a negligible drop in worldwide wheat production resulting from expected record harvests in Russia and conducive weather conditions in North America. 

Global rice production is also expected to decline by 2.1 percent from the all-time high reached in 2021.