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World's Food-Import Bill Just Shrank $9 Billion to Five-Year Low

  • United Nation's FAO cut import-cost figure to $1.076 trillion
  • Oil rout undercuts freight rates, making food cheaper to buy
A day laborer arranges alum washed bananas in crate on a truck during a harvest in a field in Bhusawal, Maharashtra, India, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014. Planting of crops from rice to soybeans and lentils were delayed this year as about 90 percent of India received below normal rainfall in June. An estimated 833 million people out of the 1.2 billion population depend on agriculture for their livelihood and the sector accounts for 14 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.
Photographer: Dhiraj SIngh/Bloomberg

The world’s food bill just fell $9 billion from a previous estimate as a glut of oil and ships cut transportation costs, adding to an oversupply of everything from grains to sugar, according to the United Nations.

Countries around the globe probably spent $1.076 trillion importing food in 2015, a five-year low, the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization estimated. That’s 0.8 percent less than the Rome-based agency had forecast in October and marks the first drop since 2009.