ROME: The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stated on Friday that world food commodity prices fell moderately in May for the second month in a row, however wheat and chicken prices rose. In May 2022, the FAO Food Price Index averaged 157.4 points, down 0.6% from April. However, the Index, which analyses monthly changes in the international prices of a basket of regularly traded food items, was 22.8 percent higher in May 2021 than in May 2021. Wheat prices were up 5.6 percent from April and 56.2 percent from their comparable value a year ago, according to the FAO Cereal Price Index, which jumped by 2.2 percent from the previous month. International wheat prices climbed in reaction to an export ban declared by India, concerns over crop conditions in several main exporting countries, and lower production forecasts in Ukraine owing to the war, averaging only 11% below the record high hit in March 2008. International rice prices gained across the board, while coarse grain prices fell 2.1 percent, with maize prices falling even further in response to slightly improved crop conditions in the United States, seasonal supply in Argentina, and the start of Brazil's main maize harvest. Turkey collaborates with Russia, Ukraine to end global food crisis Germany's annual inflation reaches 7.9 pc level since 70s oil crisis Austria's inflation prediction for 2022 scales up 6.5 pc