Food prices decline but remain high

Global food prices continued to decline between June and October, but were still not far from their historical peaks, the World Bank said in a report Tuesday.

In its Food Price Watch report, the World Bank said the global food price index dropped by 6 percent between June and October, 12 percent lower than a year ago and 16 percent below the all-time high in August 2012.

The overall decline is mainly driven by the prices of grains, which were 19 percent lower in October than in June, according to the report.

However, there are some variations within the prices of grains, with prices of maize and rice dropping 32 percent and 16 percent, respectively, and prices for wheat increasing 4 percent during the period.

"Domestic prices showed typically large variations across countries, mainly attributable to seasonal trends but also due to a combination of factors including bad weather, public procurement policies, local supply shortfalls and currency devaluation," said the WB report.

The World Bank also said deteriorating weather conditions and other uncertainties might further affect rice harvest in China and India.