PARIS: World food prices rose for a second consecutive month in September, driven by increases in cereals and vegetable oils, to remain about a third above their level a year ago, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also raised slightly its projection of global cereal production in 2021, to 2.800 billion tonnes from 2.788 billion tonnes estimated a month ago.

FAO's food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 130.0 points last month compared with a revised 128.5 for August.

The August figure was previously given as 127.4.

On a year-on-year basis, prices were up 32.8% in September.

Agricultural commodity prices have risen steeply in the past year, fuelled by harvest setbacks and Chinese-fuelled demand.

For cereal production, FAO said its 2021 projection represented a record crop but was nonetheless below expected global demand, leading to a fall in forecast cereal stocks.