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By Bloomberg

World food prices extended a slide to a five-year low last month with already plentiful supplies of grain set to expand further amid improved crop prospects, the United Nations said.

An index of 73 food prices from around the world dropped 1.4 percent in May to 166.8 points, the lowest since September 2009, according to a report released Thursday from the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization in Rome. The gauge, which includes costs of grain, meat, dairy and other products, fell for a seventh straight month, the longest slide since February 2009.

Global grain production will be 2.52 billion metric tons, larger than expected last month and only about 1 percent smaller than last year’s record, the FAO said. Crop prices have tumbled around the world in the past year amid surging supplies of everything from corn to wheat to sugar to soybeans.

“Ample stocks combined with generally favorable crop outlooks for this year continued to keep international prices under downward pressure,” the FAO said. “Subdued trade prospects, with many importing countries postponing purchases to later this year, also contributed to the general decline in prices.”