Posted on 03/31/2008 3:22:27 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Grain prices soar globally
Rice shortages are appearing across Asia. In Egypt, the Army is now baking bread to curb food riots.
By Daniel Ten Kate | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor from the March 27, 2008 edition
Bangkok, Thailand - - Rice farmers here are staying awake in shifts at night to guard their fields from thieves. In Peru, shortages of wheat flour are prompting the military to make bread with potato flour, a native crop. In Egypt, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso food riots have broken out in the past week.
Around the world, governments and aid groups are grappling with the escalating cost of basic grains. In December, 37 countries faced a food crisis, reports the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and 20 nations had imposed some form of food-price controls.
In Asia, where rice is on every plate, prices are shooting up almost daily. Premium Thai fragrant rice now costs $900 per ton, a nearly 30 percent rise from a month ago.
Exporters say the price could eclipse $1,000 per ton by June. Similarly, prices of white rice have climbed about 50 percent since January to $600 per ton and are projected to jump another 40 percent to $800 per ton in April.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Ping!
bump
” In Egypt, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso food riots have broken out in the past week “
Thinking “It can’t happen here”?
Think again.....
Gee, as the central banks increase the money supply (inject liquidity) prices of most everything go up.
Could there be a connection?
” Hate to watch Obama or Hitlery yammering on TV when that happens “
The ‘yammering’ will be the least of it — I’m gonna hate it when we have gummint takeover of agriculture and food distribution — rationing, long bread lines, and ‘5-year plans’ could well be in our future......
(And, sadly, the sheeple will demand it — those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it...)
Commodity prices for livestock topped out in January, grains topped out at the end of February, and cocoa and coffee topped out in early March. But, milk and egg prices are hitting new highs.
Actually the Fed is draining, lower interest rates and new credit facilities notwithstanding.
Thank goodness we’re burning our grain supply in our autos.
BTW, despite record commodity prices, the House and Senate last week approved a record $26 billion dollar five year farm bill.
So, what’s the reason for these price hikes and shortages?
Hunger will cause people to do bad things. Is there a coordinated effort to cause global strife?
Just (un)lucky convergence.
In the case of U.S., you can add “sinking dollar” to the list.
If the pending trucker strike I keep hearing about happens- things could get interesting in the very near future.
“Just (un)lucky convergence.”
Unlucky or not, past events of this nature have caused major problems.
Trouble is, the *policy* makers know this yet, carry on with business as usual.
” If the pending trucker strike I keep hearing about happens- things could get interesting in the very near future. “
A truckers’ strike would be serious, in the short-term — the reports I’ve been seeing about independent owner-operators parking their trucks and going out of business might have catastrophic long-term implications......
Food getting more expensive, added to fewer companies actually doing food transportation, added to transportation costs getting more expensive as the remaining trucking companies gain pricing power — a recipe for catastrophe...
Urban areas might not be a fun - or healthy - place to live, in the near-to-mid future......
>Is there a coordinated effort to cause global strife?<
Makes sense to me. There seems to be some sort of coordinated effort by our people in power to bring down our own country.
It doesn’t seem that far fetched to me.
Not good old Uncle Sap. The USDA was notified by private exporters that they will be shipping out almost 400 metric tons of corn next year...when our food prices are inflating by the week because of the shortage of corn.
Something has got to change soon.
Make that 400 THOUSAND metric tons of corn...not enough coffee this morning.
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