World food prices eased in April after rising in the first quarter of this year, the United Nation's food agency said, but inflation worries are still simmering as soybean prices climb, according to Reuters. Prices receded in the second half of 2011 but the uptrend resumed in January. The FAO Food Price Index, which measures monthly price changes for a food basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 214 points in April, down from revised 217 in March, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Thursday. Yet soybean prices - at their highest since July 2008 - are likely to rise further due to tight supplies, driving corn prices higher, the agency's senior economist said. The index drop reflected a 2.5 percent month-on-month fall in maize prices, a 1 percent fall in wheat and a 5 percent drop in sugar prices, which offset a 2.2 percent rise in vegetable oils fuelled by soaring soybean prices.
