After holding steady for three months, world price rises fell again in December, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has said. FAO economists had warned that the months without movement could signal an impending price rise.

Releasing its monthly Food Price Index (which measures the price of a range of staple products across the world), FAO said on Thursday that large supplies of staple foodstuffs and record stocks led the decline, alongside the strengthening of the US dollar and falling oil prices.

Although the month-on-month fall was only marginal (the index dropped 1.7 percent from November), prices have eased by almost four percent since this time last year – a third consecutive annual decline. Sugar and palm oil led prices lower.

The overall picture of gradually easing prices disguises sharper movements within the index; meat prices rose to an all time high over the course of last year – averaging 8.1 above their 2013 levels. Meat prices did fall in December, easing by 1.9 percent as the stronger US dollar curbed quotations for beef and mutton from Oceania and pork from Europe.

Cereals, by contrast, dropped 12.5 percent between 2013 and 2014 (though cereal prices rose 0.4 percent last month), buoyed by forecasts of record production and ample inventories.

Overall, FAO said four of its food groups (dairy, oils, sugar and cereals) are at, or close to, their lowest levels in five years.

The FAO Dairy Price Index fell by 2.3 percent last month to its lowest level since 2009, as slowing imports by China and Russia meant even more supplies remain on international markets. Price declines were greatest for milk powders, butter and cheese.