The United Nations says world food prices held steady in August, after a big jump the month before.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome says its food price index was unchanged last month. The agency said that eased fears summertime droughts in the U.S. and Eastern Europe could continue to push food prices higher as key corn, soybean and wheat crops withered under scorching heat. The index had spiked at six percent in July.

The group's director-general, Jose Graziano da Silva, said the August index figure was reassuring. He said current prices “do not justify talk of a world food crisis.”

The August report showed that international prices for cereals, oils and fats changed little last month, while sugar prices dropped sharply and meat and dairy prices increased.

Even as world food prices steadied, the price index remains high, not far from its peak in February 2011.