Article

2008-02-26 International-UN-NGOs

Wheat, Corn, Soyabeans hit record high prices

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Posted by phil_b 2008-02-26 04:35|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 If you thought gas prices got the population riled, you wait till momma comes home from grocery shopping next year. Can you say Biofuel Mr. Congresscritter?

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-02-26 08:54|| 2008-02-26 08:54|| Front Page Top

#2 Financial Times: Spring wheat at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange surged an unprecedented $4.75 to a record high of $24 a bushel as consumers scrambled to secure supplies and speculators poured fresh money into the agriculture market.

The price of spring wheat, used to bake bread, has more than doubled since January and has risen fourfold in the last year, contributing to a rise in global food inflation. Gavin Maguire, of Iowa Grain in Chicago, said consumers such as mills and bakers, who needed wheat, were panicking. He said: Historical references are useless. We are breaking all the rules.

Iraq and Turkey said they were planning substantial wheat purchases to replenish inventories and analysts said China could be forced to follow because of drought damage to its next crop.

Global suppliesare scarce after extreme weather damaged the crops in Australia, Canada and the European Union. As a result, the US is experiencing record demand and its inventories are set to drop to the lowest for 60 years.

One bushel for one barrel. We're getting there.

Posted by ed 2008-02-26 09:25|| 2008-02-26 09:25|| Front Page Top

#3 Maybe science will come up with a device that will turn the fuel in SUVs back into Corn Flakes. Or, maybe we could drink the Bio-Fuel and skip the flakes.

Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2008-02-26 11:37|| 2008-02-26 11:37|| Front Page Top

#4 Turning food into fuel has to be one of the stupidest effing idea in history.
Of course, it is popular with the farmers, because it means higher prices for their crops. Which makes the politicians from the farm states happy.
If America truly wants independence from foreign oil, we should start drilling some of the reserves we have ourselves, like ANWR and off the California coast.

Posted by Rambler in California">Rambler in California 2008-02-26 11:50|| 2008-02-26 11:50|| Front Page Top

#5 The article refers to prices going up. But what happens when we start turning more of our foodstuff's into fuel. Food shortages perhaps? This can't end well.

Time to start converting more of fossil fuels into useful stuff like gasoline, diesel and heating fuels. Stop shipping our Sour Crude to Japan. Not mention as previously by well stated by Rambler, start drilling for the stuff we have available.

But at last check, the environmentalists don't want that to happen and have to much to say about increased domestic fuel production and drilling.
Freakin sad.

Posted by Delphi 2008-02-26 12:41|| 2008-02-26 12:41|| Front Page Top

#6 Even the Financial Times won't state the obvious. Prices rise in a market until demand equals supply. Reducing demand for food means people eating less.

Now that is political dynamite. Khazakstan is the latest country to ban wheat exports to limit prices rises at home.

And that will be the pattern. I think even the USA will succumb if shortages continue and prices will continue to rise.

If you thought oil was strategic. It will be nothing compared to food in a time of global shortages.

Then the globalized trade system falls apart?

Posted by phil_b 2008-02-26 18:41|| 2008-02-26 18:41|| Front Page Top

#7 Not that I'd want to be around to see it, but if the sunspots have taken a long vacation and the world chills again, you can kiss those Canada and Northern Plains wheat fields goodbye. Toss that into the computations.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-02-26 18:58|| 2008-02-26 18:58|| Front Page Top

#8 Don't worry, folks. We will have all the Soylent Green that we can handle to make up the shortfall of wheat.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2008-02-26 19:30|| 2008-02-26 19:30|| Front Page Top

#9 This story is about wheat and its price surge due to bad weather, hoarding, and generally increased demand. Soybeans are barely mentioned and corn is not mentioned. 90% of U.S. biofuels production is from corn. Some of you guys are projecting the MSM "biofuels are taking food off our table" theme that has little to do with wheat.

Corn-to-ethanol will drive up animal feed costs and meat costs and will shift more soybean production from the U.S. to Brazil (neither of which is a good thing for us), but singing the blues over that right now is like defending global warming with the argument that it was cooler yesterday than today.

We will get our "food versus fuel" priorities straight about corn only after the government gets out of the market-tampering subsidy business. Unfortunately, thanks to government market tampering, the U.S. soybean business will probably be wrecked by the time we decide corn-to-fuel is not the best answer to our energy needs. Then soybean farming will be largely lost to Brazil and corn farming here will crash.

Posted by Darrell 2008-02-26 20:25|| 2008-02-26 20:25|| Front Page Top

#10 From the linked article,

March corn rose 11 cents to settle at $5.3325 a bushel after earlier hitting a record $5.4175 a bushel.

BTW, do you know which country is the world's largest importer of wheat?

Answer: Brazil

Posted by phil_b 2008-02-26 21:45|| 2008-02-26 21:45|| Front Page Top

#11 Procopius, the problem will be much bigger across Russia, Ukraine and Khazakstan.

No bread and nuclear missiles.

Posted by phil_b 2008-02-26 21:49|| 2008-02-26 21:49|| Front Page Top

#12 Darrell, you are of course free to disagree with my interpretation of the facts, but I do endeavour to get my facts right and my headline is factually correct.

Posted by phil_b 2008-02-26 22:02|| 2008-02-26 22:02|| Front Page Top

#13 Time for Payback:

Screw OPEC we got OGEC
Organization of the Grain Exporting Countries

Posted by Farmin B Hard Ass">Farmin B Hard Ass 2008-02-26 22:33|| 2008-02-26 22:33|| Front Page Top

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