.png)
BULLETIN 1
FAO Food Price Index
.png)
FAO December 2025
The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities. It consists of the average of five commodity group price indices weighted by the average export shares of each of the groups over 2014-2016. A feature article published in the June 2020 edition of the Food Outlook presents the revision of the base period for the calculation of the FFPI and the expansion of its price coverage, to be introduced from July 2020. A November 2013 article contains technical background on the previous construction of the FFPI.
Monthly release dates for 2026: 9 January, 6 February, 6 March, 3 April, 8 May, 5 June, 3 July, 7 August, 4 September, 2 October, 6 November, 4 December.
» The FAO Food Price Index* (FFPI) averaged 125.1 points in November 2025, down 1.5 points (1.2 percent) from the revised October value of 126.6 points, marking a third consecutive monthly decline. Decreases in the price indices for dairy products, meat, sugar and vegetable oils outweighed an increase in the cereal index. Overall, the FFPI stood 2.6 points (2.1 percent) below its November 2024 level and remained 35.2 points (21.9 percent) lower than its peak in March 2022.
» The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 105.5 points in November, up 1.9 points (1.8 percent) from October but still 5.9 points (5.3 percent) below its level a year earlier. Despite a generally comfortable supply outlook and reports of good harvests in Argentina and Australia, global wheat prices rose by 2.5 percent in November, albeit from levels last seen in the first half of 2020. Wheat markets were bolstered by potential Chinese interest in supplies from the United States of America, concerns over continuing hostilities in the Black Sea region, and expectations of reduced plantings in the Russian Federation. International maize prices also rose in November, underpinned by firm demand for Brazilian supplies and reports of fieldwork being hampered by rains in Argentina and Brazil. World prices of barley and sorghum increased as well, with prices of all major grains influenced by higher soybean prices. By contrast, the FAO All Rice Price Index declined by 1.5 percent in November, as main-crop harvests in northern hemisphere exporting countries and subdued import demand kept Indica and fragrant rice quotations under downward pressure.
» The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index averaged 165.0 points in November, down 4.4 points (2.6 percent) from October and reaching a five-month low. The decline reflected lower prices of palm, rapeseed and sunflower oils, more than offsetting a slight increase in soyoil quotations. International palm oil prices fell in November, resulting in a discount relative to competing oils, largely due to higher-than-expected production in Malaysia. Meanwhile, after several consecutive months of increases, rapeseed oil prices eased on positive global production prospects, while sunflower oil quotations declined amid seasonally increasing supplies from the Black Sea region. Global soyoil prices remained steady and rose slightly, mainly supported by firm demand from the biodiesel sector, particularly in Brazil. Falling crude oil prices also contributed to lowering vegetable oil prices.
» The FAO Meat Price Index averaged 124.6 points in November, down 1.0 point (0.8 percent) from its revised October value, while remaining 5.8 points (4.9 percent) above its level a year ago. The monthly decline continued to be driven by lower pig and poultry meat prices, while bovine meat quotations remained broadly stable and ovine meat prices increased. Poultry meat quotations fell as Brazil’s export values declined amid abundant exportable supplies and stronger global competition. This drop was compounded by efforts to regain market share following the lifting of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI)-related trade bans by key importing countries, including China, which removed its restrictions in early November. Pig meat prices also eased, mainly due to lower quotations in the European Union amid ample supplies and subdued demand, particularly from China, after the introduction of import duties in early September. Meanwhile, the removal of tariffs on beef imports into the United States of America tempered the upward price pressure, especially on Australian products, as major exporters sought to maintain their competitiveness, leaving global bovine meat prices largely stable. By contrast, ovine meat prices increased, underpinned by solid global import demand.
» The FAO Dairy Price Index averaged 137.5 points in November, down 4.4 points (3.1 percent) from October and 2.4 points (1.7 percent) from its value a year ago. International dairy prices fell for the fifth consecutive month, with declines recorded across all major dairy commodities. The continued easing stemmed from rising milk production and abundant export supplies in key producing regions, supported by ample butter and skim milk powder inventories in the European Union and seasonally higher output in New Zealand. Softer import demand for milk powders in parts of Asia also weighed on prices. Butter and whole milk powder registered the sharpest declines, driven by increased export availability and stronger competition among major suppliers, while skim milk powder prices fell only moderately amid ample supplies and limited buying interest. Cheese prices declined the least, as generally adequate supplies in both the European Union and Oceania were partially offset by firm demand in Asian and Near Eastern markets; even so, the cheese price index remained nearly 10 percent above its level a year earlier.
» The FAO Sugar Price Index averaged 88.6 points in November, down 5.5 points (5.9 percent) from October and as much as 37.9 points (29.9 percent) from a year ago, marking its third consecutive monthly decline and its lowest level since December 2020 for the second month in a row. Expectations of ample global sugar supplies in the current season continued to exert downward pressure on prices. In Brazil’s key southern growing regions, sugar production remained strong despite the seasonal slowdown in sugarcane crushing and lower use of sugarcane for sugar production. The good early season start to India’s 2025/26 harvest and favourable crop prospects in Thailand further reinforced the positive global sugar supply outlook and added downward pressure on prices.
See https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en/
Monthly release dates for 2026: 9 January, 6 February, 6 March, 3 April, 8 May, 5 June, 3 July, 7 August, 4 September, 2 October, 6 November, 4 December.
» The FAO Food Price Index* (FFPI) averaged 125.1 points in November 2025, down 1.5 points (1.2 percent) from the revised October value of 126.6 points, marking a third consecutive monthly decline. Decreases in the price indices for dairy products, meat, sugar and vegetable oils outweighed an increase in the cereal index. Overall, the FFPI stood 2.6 points (2.1 percent) below its November 2024 level and remained 35.2 points (21.9 percent) lower than its peak in March 2022.
» The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 105.5 points in November, up 1.9 points (1.8 percent) from October but still 5.9 points (5.3 percent) below its level a year earlier. Despite a generally comfortable supply outlook and reports of good harvests in Argentina and Australia, global wheat prices rose by 2.5 percent in November, albeit from levels last seen in the first half of 2020. Wheat markets were bolstered by potential Chinese interest in supplies from the United States of America, concerns over continuing hostilities in the Black Sea region, and expectations of reduced plantings in the Russian Federation. International maize prices also rose in November, underpinned by firm demand for Brazilian supplies and reports of fieldwork being hampered by rains in Argentina and Brazil. World prices of barley and sorghum increased as well, with prices of all major grains influenced by higher soybean prices. By contrast, the FAO All Rice Price Index declined by 1.5 percent in November, as main-crop harvests in northern hemisphere exporting countries and subdued import demand kept Indica and fragrant rice quotations under downward pressure.
» The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index averaged 165.0 points in November, down 4.4 points (2.6 percent) from October and reaching a five-month low. The decline reflected lower prices of palm, rapeseed and sunflower oils, more than offsetting a slight increase in soyoil quotations. International palm oil prices fell in November, resulting in a discount relative to competing oils, largely due to higher-than-expected production in Malaysia. Meanwhile, after several consecutive months of increases, rapeseed oil prices eased on positive global production prospects, while sunflower oil quotations declined amid seasonally increasing supplies from the Black Sea region. Global soyoil prices remained steady and rose slightly, mainly supported by firm demand from the biodiesel sector, particularly in Brazil. Falling crude oil prices also contributed to lowering vegetable oil prices.
» The FAO Meat Price Index averaged 124.6 points in November, down 1.0 point (0.8 percent) from its revised October value, while remaining 5.8 points (4.9 percent) above its level a year ago. The monthly decline continued to be driven by lower pig and poultry meat prices, while bovine meat quotations remained broadly stable and ovine meat prices increased. Poultry meat quotations fell as Brazil’s export values declined amid abundant exportable supplies and stronger global competition. This drop was compounded by efforts to regain market share following the lifting of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI)-related trade bans by key importing countries, including China, which removed its restrictions in early November. Pig meat prices also eased, mainly due to lower quotations in the European Union amid ample supplies and subdued demand, particularly from China, after the introduction of import duties in early September. Meanwhile, the removal of tariffs on beef imports into the United States of America tempered the upward price pressure, especially on Australian products, as major exporters sought to maintain their competitiveness, leaving global bovine meat prices largely stable. By contrast, ovine meat prices increased, underpinned by solid global import demand.
» The FAO Dairy Price Index averaged 137.5 points in November, down 4.4 points (3.1 percent) from October and 2.4 points (1.7 percent) from its value a year ago. International dairy prices fell for the fifth consecutive month, with declines recorded across all major dairy commodities. The continued easing stemmed from rising milk production and abundant export supplies in key producing regions, supported by ample butter and skim milk powder inventories in the European Union and seasonally higher output in New Zealand. Softer import demand for milk powders in parts of Asia also weighed on prices. Butter and whole milk powder registered the sharpest declines, driven by increased export availability and stronger competition among major suppliers, while skim milk powder prices fell only moderately amid ample supplies and limited buying interest. Cheese prices declined the least, as generally adequate supplies in both the European Union and Oceania were partially offset by firm demand in Asian and Near Eastern markets; even so, the cheese price index remained nearly 10 percent above its level a year earlier.
» The FAO Sugar Price Index averaged 88.6 points in November, down 5.5 points (5.9 percent) from October and as much as 37.9 points (29.9 percent) from a year ago, marking its third consecutive monthly decline and its lowest level since December 2020 for the second month in a row. Expectations of ample global sugar supplies in the current season continued to exert downward pressure on prices. In Brazil’s key southern growing regions, sugar production remained strong despite the seasonal slowdown in sugarcane crushing and lower use of sugarcane for sugar production. The good early season start to India’s 2025/26 harvest and favourable crop prospects in Thailand further reinforced the positive global sugar supply outlook and added downward pressure on prices.
See https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en/
BULLETIN 2
Evolution of viral genomes and their clouds of sequence
.png)
PNAS December 22, 2025
When a novel virus such as Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infects a new host species, it faces an inhospitable environment. However, a few mutations can be all the virus needs to get a bit of replication accomplished. As we know from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the results of adaptation in even a few hosts can be catastrophic for the entire new host population. The remarkable paper by Martínez-González et al. (1) has documented both the rate of viral population change and the sizes of the quasispecies clouds that accompanied the waves of SARS-CoV-2 infection as they reached one metropolitan area, Madrid, during the first years of the pandemic (1).
What Is a Quasispecies Cloud?
Following its introduction into the human population in 2019, the approximately 30,000-nucleotide SARS-CoV-2 genome has evolved at a relatively constant rate of 10−3 to 10−4 substitutions per nucleotide each year (1; figure 2). These mutations remained in the population via genetic drift or via selective pressure from the millions of variants produced. Within each infected cell, the viral RNA replication machinery makes errors at a frequency such that each templating event gives rise to approximately one mutation per genome. Mutations accumulate because multiple positive-to-negative and negative-to-positive templating events are needed to create the thousands of viral RNAs in each infected cell. The iterative and cumulative nature of mutation acquisition results in the structure of the “quasispecies cloud” in each infected cell and ultimately in each infected person.
The size of this cloud in an infected individual will depend on the viral RNA load, the intrinsic mutation frequency of the viral polymerase complex, and the number of templating steps required to create infectious virions in the infected cell types. Unless these parameters change, the polymerase mutation frequency and quasispecies cloud size should remain proportionate.
The surprising finding that viral quasispecies complexity can alter during and after adaptation to a new host alters our understanding of viral emergence. Whether the larger magnitude of the quasispecies cloud was due to stress responses that altered protein synthesis, to changes in iterative viral RNA templating or as-yet-unimagined mechanisms, understanding this new twist in viral evolution may inform antiviral design and pandemic management. It will certainly inspire increased precision in our discussions of the roles of polymerase misincorporation frequencies, quasispecies complexity and virus-host relationships as they, too, continue to evolve.
See https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2525457122
What Is a Quasispecies Cloud?
Following its introduction into the human population in 2019, the approximately 30,000-nucleotide SARS-CoV-2 genome has evolved at a relatively constant rate of 10−3 to 10−4 substitutions per nucleotide each year (1; figure 2). These mutations remained in the population via genetic drift or via selective pressure from the millions of variants produced. Within each infected cell, the viral RNA replication machinery makes errors at a frequency such that each templating event gives rise to approximately one mutation per genome. Mutations accumulate because multiple positive-to-negative and negative-to-positive templating events are needed to create the thousands of viral RNAs in each infected cell. The iterative and cumulative nature of mutation acquisition results in the structure of the “quasispecies cloud” in each infected cell and ultimately in each infected person.
The size of this cloud in an infected individual will depend on the viral RNA load, the intrinsic mutation frequency of the viral polymerase complex, and the number of templating steps required to create infectious virions in the infected cell types. Unless these parameters change, the polymerase mutation frequency and quasispecies cloud size should remain proportionate.
The surprising finding that viral quasispecies complexity can alter during and after adaptation to a new host alters our understanding of viral emergence. Whether the larger magnitude of the quasispecies cloud was due to stress responses that altered protein synthesis, to changes in iterative viral RNA templating or as-yet-unimagined mechanisms, understanding this new twist in viral evolution may inform antiviral design and pandemic management. It will certainly inspire increased precision in our discussions of the roles of polymerase misincorporation frequencies, quasispecies complexity and virus-host relationships as they, too, continue to evolve.
See https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2525457122
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
A robust 1K-core marker set for wild germplasm management and targeted pre-breeding of rice: development and applications
Debashree Dalai, Dipti Ranjan Pani, Swayamsiddha Aswita Dhal, Motilal Behera, Tapan Kumar Mondal, Muhammad Azaharudheen TP, Joshitha Vijayan, Deepa Sarkar, Pallavi Ghose, Abhijeet Roy, Kutubuddin A Molla, Anilkumar C, Lotan Kumar Bose, Trilochan Mohapatra, Soham Ray, Meera Kumari Kar & Mridul Chakraborti
TAG; January 3 2026; vol. 139; article 23
Debashree Dalai, Dipti Ranjan Pani, Swayamsiddha Aswita Dhal, Motilal Behera, Tapan Kumar Mondal, Muhammad Azaharudheen TP, Joshitha Vijayan, Deepa Sarkar, Pallavi Ghose, Abhijeet Roy, Kutubuddin A Molla, Anilkumar C, Lotan Kumar Bose, Trilochan Mohapatra, Soham Ray, Meera Kumari Kar & Mridul Chakraborti
TAG; January 3 2026; vol. 139; article 23
.png)
Figure: Oryza rufipogon in Tràm Chim (BCB photo)
Key message
A core set of sequence tagged microsatellite sites (STMS) markers for Oryza sativa complex were developed, validated and utilized for pre-breding and characterization of Oryza germplasm from different taxa.
Abstract
Development of genome-wide distributed cross-transferable molecular markers applicable to different species can enhance pre-breeding efficiency. Screening of 23.5K primer pairs across nine reference genomes identified 1,008 cross-amplifiable sequence-tagged microsatellite site (STMS) markers, including 520 genic ones, for the Oryza sativa complex. Predicted amplicon lengths of the markers were validated using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Additionally, 3,628–13,280 markers were identified for individual species. Most cross-amplifiable markers were syntenic across the A-genome. However, substantial intra- and inter-chromosomal translocations were detected in O. longistaminata, O. nivara, and O. meridionalis compared to other A-genome species and subspecies. Notably, four markers exhibited contrasting inter-chromosomal translocations between the three Asiatic A-genome species and the five other species from Africa, South America, and Australia. Among the 1K cross-amplifiable core markers, 629 syntenic STMS loci were considered cross-transferable across the A-genome, within which three markers showed distinct species-specific amplicon lengths. Additionally, 42 markers were predicted to be cross-amplifiable among O. sativa complex, O. punctata, and O. coarctata. PCR-based cross-amplification of the markers in 21 Oryza species revealed hyper-variable amplicon lengths, though their synteny could not be confirmed. The A-genome core markers, along with the species combination-wise markers, provide a reliable genomic resource for developing chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs), molecular mapping, and transferring diverse traits from multiple wild species to all types of cultivated rice, including O. sativa, O. glaberrima, and New Rice for Africa (NERICA). Selected cross-transferable markers were used to develop CSSLs by introgressing O. rufipogon genomic segments into the O. sativa background.
See https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00122-025-05133-1
Development of genome-wide distributed cross-transferable molecular markers applicable to different species can enhance pre-breeding efficiency. Screening of 23.5K primer pairs across nine reference genomes identified 1,008 cross-amplifiable sequence-tagged microsatellite site (STMS) markers, including 520 genic ones, for the Oryza sativa complex. Predicted amplicon lengths of the markers were validated using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Additionally, 3,628–13,280 markers were identified for individual species. Most cross-amplifiable markers were syntenic across the A-genome. However, substantial intra- and inter-chromosomal translocations were detected in O. longistaminata, O. nivara, and O. meridionalis compared to other A-genome species and subspecies. Notably, four markers exhibited contrasting inter-chromosomal translocations between the three Asiatic A-genome species and the five other species from Africa, South America, and Australia. Among the 1K cross-amplifiable core markers, 629 syntenic STMS loci were considered cross-transferable across the A-genome, within which three markers showed distinct species-specific amplicon lengths. Additionally, 42 markers were predicted to be cross-amplifiable among O. sativa complex, O. punctata, and O. coarctata. PCR-based cross-amplification of the markers in 21 Oryza species revealed hyper-variable amplicon lengths, though their synteny could not be confirmed. The A-genome core markers, along with the species combination-wise markers, provide a reliable genomic resource for developing chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs), molecular mapping, and transferring diverse traits from multiple wild species to all types of cultivated rice, including O. sativa, O. glaberrima, and New Rice for Africa (NERICA). Selected cross-transferable markers were used to develop CSSLs by introgressing O. rufipogon genomic segments into the O. sativa background.
See https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00122-025-05133-1
