Posted on 10/19/2009 12:36:02 PM PDT by djf
INTERNATIONAL. Legendary global investor and chairman of Singapore- based Rogers Holdings, Jim Rogers said the lack of supply in agricultural products is especially concerning.
This cycle may last for many years as no one is bringing new supply on stream, Rogers said.
In a Yahoo Finance video clip Rogers explains the reasons he is bullish on agricultural commodities. As he sees it, "most agricultural products are still depressed on a historic basis."
"The story is not over, not for a while," he said.
"I don't see any reason it's going to be over for a few years because no one is bringing new supply on stream."
"A catastrophe is looming," he says. "The world is going to have a period when we cannot get food at any price in some parts of the world.”
Rogers on Rice and Cotton
Rogers believes Rice and cotton prices are likely to soar in the coming decade as prices of agricultural commodities boom because of declining inventories and production disruptions.
“If we start having problems, weather problems, production problems, the price of rice is going to skyrocket over the next decade,” Rogers said in a Bloomberg interview.
"When it happens I don’t know. But I know that the fundamentals are ripe," he added.
Agriculture production needs to expand by 70% through 2050, as the global population rises to 9.1 billion from 6.7 billion, Jacques Diouf, director-general at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, said October 12.
World food production will face increasing competition from the biofuel market “which has the potential to change the fundamentals of agricultural market systems,” with production set to climb by almost 90% over the next 10 years to reach 192 billion liters by 2018, said Diouf.
“Global agriculture will have to cope with the effects of climate change, notably higher temperatures, greater rainfall variability and more frequent extreme weather events such as floods and droughts,” Diouf told a food forum in Rome.
“Rice is a basic food stuff for much of the world,” Rogers said. “We know that inventories are low. I would not buy rice today necessarily. But I expect rice prices to be much higher over the next decade.”
“We have a gigantic problem developing in the agriculture market,” Rogers told Bloomberg.
Increasing demand for biofuel may encourage farmers to switch to corn and other crops from cotton, which would support prices of the fiber, he said.
“When cotton is going to explode in price, I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m sure it will, just as will everything during a bull market.
“I’ve owned commodities since 1998,” said Rogers.
“I still own them all. Some day, I presume, there’s going to be a wild hysteria at the end of the bull market. Hopefully, I’m smart enough to sell if and when that happens.”
Does this mean Rogers is no longer bullish on Gold?
"I am quite sure gold will go over US$2,000 per ounce during this bull market, Rogers said in a Yahoo Finance video clip this week, adding that the yellow metal will continue to rally as the US dollar is on its way to losing status as the world's reserve currency.
"Is it going to happen? Yes," Rogers says. "I don't like saying it [and] I'm extremely worried about it but we have to deal with the facts. America is not getting better [and] the dollar is going to be replaced just like pound sterling [was]."
Still, "I wouldn't buy gold today," Rogers says.
He said he still owns gold though it's not his favorite metal. "Gold is mystical to many people."
I think I'll make more money in other commodities that are more useful and which are cheaper, he said.
ping
Being in the agriculture industry, this years corn crop (for central ohio area) is not top quality, much damage reported.
the cogency of any argument tends to be overshadowed by overt media whoredom.
Let them eat health care.
Food is one thing I am not worried about. Between 1968 and 1974 the liberals told us we would all be starving by 1990 and no later than 2000, yet, we are the fattest worldwide.
We have more production capability than we use.
You can still buy a 50 pound sack of white long-grained rice, grown in Louisiana, for about $16 at Costco. Find some food-grade plastic buckets to keep it in...it might be more valuable than gold some day, and certainly more edible.
media whoredom by whom?
WTF are you mumbling about??
Jim Rodgers. Mr. Bowtie. Mr. Motorbike-around-the-world. Mr. CNBC. Mr. I-used-to-be-George-Soros'-partner.
Do I have to draw a picture?
Agreed. Jim Rogers is usually right about things. Stalin used massed starvation to gain total control. It is very effective.
Put a piece of dry ice on it before you seal it up. The co2 it creates will keep the bugs out.
When the dollar collapses, we will experience shortages in many areas. I believe that the delivery system for agriculture will be severely impacted. Although agricultural production may not be impacted, I believe that the food will not get to the consumer.
Yup...
My plan is to simply eat fat people when things get real bad, a zombie buffet if you will ...
Ah, but there's the rub. Where will you get your fava beans and chianti?
Water, Food, Guns, Ammo, Seeds! I take a load of them over gold any day!
Not really, the idiots would work hard to steal your gold than food! Trade goods tobacco, liquor,toilet paper and so on.
See:
http://thepowerhour.com/news/items_disappearfirst.htm
The picture you draw of Jim Rodgers is an ugly caricature.
Jimmy, a free market guru, is an old friend of arch-Reaganite Larry Kudlow.
He is a legend in the markets for good reasons, one of which is the miracle he and Soros achieved with their Quantum Fund.
I heard that the reason haters hate, is because they’re jealous.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.