5 March 2015, Rome---The FAO Food Price Index declined to a 55-month low in February, dropping 1.0 percent from January and 14 percent below its level a year earlier. Lower prices for cereals, meat and especially sugar more than offset an increase in milk and palm oil prices. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 179.4 points in February, down from 181.2 points in January and 208.6 points in February 2014. Its ongoing decline – to its lowest level since July 2010 - reflects robust supply conditions, as FAO also once again raised its 2014 forecast for both world cereal production and stocks, as well as ongoing weakness in many currencies versus the U.S. dollar. FAO's Food Price Index is a trade-weighted index that tracks prices of five major food commodity groups on international markets. It aggregates price sub-indices of cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar.