Posted on 04/29/2020 9:40:56 AM PDT by blam
Where’s the Beef?
As we approach a long weekend (China shuts for the May Day holiday on Friday, and most of the rest of the world celebrates the following Monday), the prevailing sentiment is still moderately risk on – or at least that is what one would assume when looking at USD, which has been on the back foot the last few days. This is presumably because of the ‘victories’ being seen in various places against the virus. Unfortunately, in market terms we once again have to reiterate that this is a case of finding the potatoes but missing all the beef – because the economic damage is only just beginning. And it is terrifying.
Let’s start with the beef. Literally. Long before Covid emerged I was muttering darkly to colleagues that in a future more mercantilist, more militarised world disorder I could imagine food security meaning something far less ‘benign’ than it does today: not so much the ‘can I get food?’ demand side, but the ‘we have the food but aren’t sure we want you to have it’ supply side. Recent developments on wheat in Russia and rice in Vietnam may not have a deliberately Machiavellian bent to them, but they still take us closer to that kind of backdrop.
Meanwhile, with virus lockdowns hitting the supply side we have had reports of Indonesian provinces facing food shortages in staples such as rice, sugar, corn, chili, eggs and shallots. (I can personally report there are no eggs and almost no butter where I reside for now, and have not been for weeks.) Now we see headlines about potential meat shortages, even in the US, due to shutdowns of virus-struck meat processing plants in the States, Brazil, and Canada, who together account for around 65% of world production.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at ussanews.com ...
Posted earlier:
Stupid article, obviously clickbait
I had no idea Staples carried eggs.
I have a local source of eggs and eggs and I just ordered a big box of frozen fish. I have a garden.
Just three letters to neutralize this: DPA !
If we can get back to work, ridiculously low energy prices should fuel a decent recovery. Whether things will ever be the same remains to be seen. I fear the inevitable consequences of inflationary policy, which is a piper that’s going to be paid one way or the other.
It’s possible the article was written before Trump invoked the law.
Or the author decided to go forward with his fear mongering anyway.
The left is determined to create a crisis which Trump is predetermined to fail. Every time he counters their fear mongering with action, they find something else to use against him.
I had no idea Staples carried eggs.
I get mine from Office Depot. They are next to the printer ink cabinet.
It doesn’t matter, the stock market is up.
Cvs has eggs next to the beer- I’m told!
You should check out Staple's produce section sometime.
I equate that to trying to stop a rampaging Abrams MBT by shooting tennis balls at it at this point.
>>Regardless of the reports of shortages and future shortages, I’ve not seen shortages or inflated prices anywhere.
I have seen plenty of both at all my local supermarkets - inflated prices and extreme shortages; guess it depends on where you live on how active Covid is in your area.
The ChiComs themselves have been making a run on staples.
Us non-FluBros were expecting shortages like these to appear, and thus we prepared adequately.
Talks about shortages in Indonesia. That is entirely possible, I don’t know their situation.
I was also thinking about the profitability of Walmart's current business restrictions, limited customer numbers, etc. In the pre-Covid world, lots of people would go into Walmart, grab one to two items and use the self-checkout. Now that access is limited to a pre-set number of people in the store at any given time, with lines of people waiting to get in, I have to assume that pretty much 100% of customers are going in to fill their shopping carts and buy as much as possible each trip. I would not be surprised if their revenues have gone up in past weeks.
Animal : [Harry gives him half the egg shell] Hey, thanks. What are we gonna do with it?
Shapiro : We’re gonna plant it, Animal. We’re gonna grow us a chicken for Christmas.
I’ve seen some food price inflation in Florida... What state do you live in?
The Wegmans in our area are completely out of chicken.
There’s about half the usual beef and pork and they still have bacon, surprisingly.
Everyone I know is talking about the meat shortages that are being predicted and they all think this is a manufactured crisis, that the dire warnings are going to cause hoarding and cause the shortages.
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