Prices of major food commodities in July dipped to the lowest average monthly rate since September 2009, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

FAO says food prices dropped as the prices of dairy products and vegetable oils were great enough to offset small increases in sugar and cereals. Meat prices, however, remained stable.

FAO’s Food Price Index—a trade-weighted index that tracks prices on international markets of five major food commodity groups—averaged 164.6 points in July, down 1 percent since June and 19.4 percent from 2014.

Dairy prices dropped 7.2 percent from June. Despite good availability, FAO says this was primarily because of low import demand from China, the Middle East and North Africa. FAO said vegetable oils were on average 5.5 percent below their June level, reaching its lowest value since July 2009.This was a result of a fall in international palm oil prices due to increased production in Southeast Asia combined with slower exports especially from Malaysia.

 The sugar price index increased by 2.5 percent from June 2015 while the cereal index rose by 2 percent.