Dear Readers,



We are pleased to share the December issue of the Asia Pacific Food Price and Policy Monitor, which aims to provide up-to-date information on price and policy developments in the Asia-Pacific region.



Highlights of the December 2014 issue are:



*       Regional inflation has slowed in recent months in part because energy and crude oil prices have fallen on oversupply.
*       Early estimates indicate Typhoon Hagupit has caused US$ 224 million in crop losses in the Philippines.
*       In Sri Lanka, rice prices were 32.2 percent higher than one year ago because drought at the start of the cropping season reduced production by 29 percent.
*       Pakistan approved a subsidy for basmati rice farmers to offset price declines.
*       Thailand approved a programme to encourage rice farmers to delay sales of about 2 million tonnes from the upcoming harvest.
*       The WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement was signed following a decision to allow India to continue stockholding grains for the poor under its food security programme.



For further details please refer to the attachment.



The Asia Pacific Food Price and Policy Monitor and other previous publications on food price information can be found at: http://www.fao.org/asiapacific/rap/home/apfppm/en/.

For readers who may have questions on the publication, please contact us at  [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>.



Best regards,



Economic, Social and Policy Assistance Group (ESP)

FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

Bangkok

Thailand




########################################################################

To unsubscribe from the Food-Asia-L list, click the following link:
&*TICKET_URL(Food-Asia-L,SIGNOFF);