6 March 2014, Rome – Weather-related trends and increased demand came into play as the FAO Food Price Index registered its sharpest increase since mid-2012, averaging 208.1 points in February 2014. The new level was 5.2 points, or 2.6 percent, above a slightly revised index for January, but was still 2.1 percent lower than last year at the same time. The figures were released amid news reports of spikes in wheat and corn prices in response to recent developments in Ukraine, but the February increase in the Index cannot be attributed to those events. Changing conditions in Ukraine and Russia, two major cereal exporters, are more likely to influence the value of the index in the coming month. The Index, based on the prices of a basket of internationally-traded food commodities, saw price upticks in all commodity groups, with the exception of meat, which fell marginally.