| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| The other oil shock: Vegetable oil prices soar |
| 2008-01-29 |
| You don't hear much about it, but food prices are going to be a major source of social and political instability in the near future. GRTWT KUANTAN, Malaysia: Rising prices for cooking oil in India are forcing residents of Mumbai to ration every drop. Bakeries in the United States are fretting over higher shortening costs. And here in Malaysia, brand-new factories built to convert vegetable oil into diesel for trucks sit idle, their owners unable to afford the raw material. This is the other oil shock. Shortages and soaring prices for palm oil, soybean oil and many other types of vegetable oils are the latest, most striking example of a developing global problem: costly food. The Food and Agriculture Organization, an agency of the United Nations, reported that its index of export prices for 60 internationally traded foodstuffs climbed 37 percent last year. That was on top of a 14 percent increase in 2006, and the trend has accelerated in the past few weeks. In some poor countries, desperation is taking hold. Just in the last week, there have been protests in Pakistan over wheat shortages and in Indonesia over soybean shortages. Egypt has banned rice exports to keep food at home, and China has put price controls on cooking oil, grain, meat, milk and eggs. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, food riots have erupted in recent months in Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen. |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #4 Nice thought, Anonymoose, except, when government makes a mistake, it does not reverse course, it doubles down... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2008-01-29 20:50 |
| #3 I have heard it suggested that George W. Bush went for this ethanol thing whole heartedly, even though he knew it wouldn't work, because he wanted to kill the idea quick, not have some other President dilly dally with it for years. "Sometimes, the best way to kill an idea is to let it happen." |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-01-29 20:27 |
| #2 If Soylent Green comes online, and AlGore goes first, we only have to worry about the next year's crop |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-01-29 19:19 |
| #1 We are turning food corn into ethanol. Dumb!!! This will put a strain on all other oils, because corn oil is going up. Meat prices are rising because feed is being diverted to ethanol. etc. etc. Tortillias are going up because corn is going up. It's a giant ripple effect. All to satisfy the Greenies and Iowa farmers. Dumb!!! |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-01-29 19:09 |