According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the global price index for animal proteins is at a record level in September, up 0.9 points over August and 7.9 points above year-ago levels. September was the eighth consecutive increase in the index.

The increase in the meat index came even as other commodity sub-categories decreased slightly. The price index is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, including the average of five commodity group price indices weighted by the average export shares of each of the groups over 2014-2016. The meat and protein index was 127.8 in September, up from 126.9 in August. Not surprisingly, the index for bovine meat rose to a new record high. Str...