Category: Food Crisis
The analysis published under this category are as follows.Monday, February 21, 2011
Plastic Bottles to Push Food Prices Even Higher / Commodities / Food Crisis
Polypropylene, one of the most popular materials used in the production of various packages, has increased in price by 133 percent during the recent two years. Prices on plastic packages continue to grow still, which will eventually affect consumers in a number of industries, including the food sector.
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Thursday, February 17, 2011
Is The World Really Running Out Of Food, Water And Oil? / Politics / Food Crisis
Everywhere you look today the mainstream news is talking about shortages. Authorities all over the globe are boldly proclaiming that the world is rapidly running out of food, water and oil. So are these doomsayers right? Well, it must be noted that some of the most famous "prophets of doom" of the past several decades have seen their predictions fail spectacularly. For example, in his infamous 1968 book entitled "The Population Bomb", Paul Ehrlich made the following statement: "I don't see how India could possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980."
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Thursday, February 10, 2011
China Drought Global Food Crisis to Trigger Many More Egypts / Commodities / Food Crisis
The Chinese government has reportedly decided to spend $1 billion to battle the drought plaguing huge areas in the north, as wheat prices continued their climb and the UN warned of serious consequences for the winter harvest.
The drought is the worst in six decades in many areas, and has left a swathe of grain-producing regions reeling from a lack of any significant rainfall in more than three months.
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Friday, February 04, 2011
How Banks and Investors Are Starving the Third World Into Political Crisis / Politics / Food Crisis
“What for a poor man is a crust, for a rich man is a securitized asset class.” --Futures trader Ann Berg, quoted in the UK Guardian
Underlying the sudden, volatile uprising in Egypt and Tunisia is a growing global crisis sparked by soaring food prices and unemployment. The Associated Press reports that roughly 40 percent of Egyptians struggle along at the World Bank-set poverty level of under $2 per day. Analysts estimate that food price inflation in Egypt is currently at an unsustainable 17 percent yearly. In poorer countries, as much as 60 to 80 percent of people's incomes go for food, compared to just 10 to 20 percent in industrial countries. An increase of a dollar or so in the cost of a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread for Americans can mean starvation for people in Egypt and other poor countries.
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Saturday, January 22, 2011
Quantitative Easing Is Causing Food Prices to Skyrocket / Commodities / Food Crisis
As I've previously noted, interest rates have risen both times after the Fed implemented quantitative easing.
Graham Summers points out that food prices have also skyrocketed both times:
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Thursday, January 20, 2011
World is in the Early Stages of a Major Leg Up in Food Prices / Economics / Food Crisis
From all accounts it appears that the world is in the early stages of a major leg up in food prices. The major macroeconomic trend will likely drive economic policy and the investment outlook for years to come. Although mainstream pundits like to focus on cyclical drivers like the weather, the real force behind the move is secular. The U.S. is leading the world in a pandemic of monetary inflation that is helping to cause commodity prices, food in particular, to skyrocket across the globe.
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Thursday, January 20, 2011
How the Food Crisis Will Affect Your Portfolio in 2011 / Stock-Markets / Food Crisis
Chris Mayer writes: A story I've been warning about for years is making sensational headlines right now.
It's a story most people don't realize could make a huge impact on all of our portfolios in a number of ways.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Food Riots 2011 / Politics / Food Crisis
The stunningly violent food riots in Tunisia and Algeria show just how quickly things can change. Just a few months ago, these two northern Africa nations were considered to be very stable, very peaceful and without any major problems. But now protesters are openly squaring off with police in the streets. Many of the protesters are throwing "fire bombs" or are shooting fireworks at the authorities, and the police are responding with a tremendous amount of violence themselves.
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Saturday, November 27, 2010
How the U.S. Government Guaranteed the Coming Global Food Crisis / Commodities / Food Crisis
Porter Stansberry with Braden Copeland write: Over the last several years, I've written constantly on the growing likelihood of a global currency collapse.
The governments of Europe and the United States have accumulated debts so large they can't ever hope to repay them, except with currencies whose value will be inflated away by money-printing.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
World Stands on the Brink of Food Crisis / Politics / Food Crisis
World imports of food will exceed the level of $1 trillion as of the year-end because of the growing prices on agricultural production, UN expert said. Next year, many countries in the world may face the problem of food shortage. In the meantime, US authorities announced considerable losses of harvests of corn and barley.
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Sunday, November 21, 2010
Global Food Prices Set to Spike Higher Again / Commodities / Food Crisis
The latest report issued by the UNO indicates that food prices are yet again set to reach record levels due to the fact that it is more economical for farmers to produce commodities which have better paybacks than to produce financially less attractive foodstuffs which feed people. Once again, the focus on the bottom line is sending millions into food insecurity in a world where there are one billion people undernourished.
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Friday, October 01, 2010
Agricultural Commodities, Population Growth and Black Swans / Commodities / Food Crisis
In 1798 32 year-old British economist Malthus anonymously published “An Essay on the Principle of Population” and in it he argued that human population’s increase geometrically (1, 2, 4, 16 etc.) while their food supply can only increase arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4 etc.). Since food is obviously necessary for us to survive, unchecked population growth in any one area or involving the whole planet would lead to individual pockets of humanity starving or even mass worldwide starvation.
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Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Food Crisis Doomsday Scenario as Prices to Shoot Through the Roof / Politics / Food Crisis
The worst weather on record coupled with the practice of speculation in the commodities markets are set to send food prices skyrocketing, bringing misery and starvation to large swathes of the world’s population. Are we set to see food riots this winter?
In the USA, Walmart has already announced a price hike of 5.8% on average for a 31-item basic basket for this Autumn. The long-term rise, however, is far more frightening, with the UNO predicting an increase of 60 per cent by 2030.
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Thursday, August 19, 2010
BHP and Potash, Inflation, Stealing Calories From the Future / Commodities / Food Crisis
Hmm. Let's see. Last time BHP Billiton made a tilt at a high-profile, big money acquisition, the whole world went pear-shaped. As the statisticians say, correlation is not causation. But M&A activity seems to pick up when company directors have run out of other ways to increase earnings. It does not always work out well for shareholders. Case in point, BHP's shares are down today by 3.5%.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Russian Wildfires Highlight the Global Population Growth-Food Supply Crisis / Commodities / Food Crisis
Matthew Weinschenk writes: … And a great fire shall consume the land. The crops shall fail. Many acres will lay fallow – and hunger will spread.
That’s not a 2012 end-of-days prophecy. It’s the situation in Russia right now, as the country faces a crisis of biblical proportions.
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Sunday, August 15, 2010
Global Food Prices Hysteria, Hunger and Riots Forecast / Commodities / Food Crisis
The situation with food prices in the world has been hysterical recently. In Russia, prices on food have already increased considerably as a result of the drought. The Russian government banned the export of crops, which boosted the prices on wheat and resulted in panic comments from Western experts who started predicting global hunger riots.
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Global Food Crisis, Drought, Fire and Grain in Russia / Commodities / Food Crisis
Three interlocking crises are striking Russia simultaneously: the highest recorded temperatures Russia has seen in 130 years of recordkeeping; the most widespread drought in more than three decades; and massive wildfires that have stretched across seven regions, including Moscow.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The Food Bubble, How Wall Street Starved Millions and Got Away With It / Politics / Food Crisis
While Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $550 million to resolve a civil fraud lawsuit filed by the SEC, Goldman has not been held accountable for many of its other questionable investment practices. A new article in Harper’s Magazine examines the role Goldman played in the food crisis of 2008 when the ranks of the world’s hungry increased by 250 million. We speak to Harper’s contributing editor Frederick Kaufman.
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Friday, February 19, 2010
Cultivating Food Security in Africa / Politics / Food Crisis
By Danielle Nierenberg and Abdou Tenkouano
As hunger and drought spread across Africa, a huge effort is underway to increase yields of staple crops, such as maize, wheat, cassava, and rice.
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Friday, January 15, 2010
Food Crisis while Futures Funds Fall the Most since 1987 / Commodities / Food Crisis
Who do you believe?… Jim Rogers came out today and predicts food shortages. Jim Rogers thinks there will be food shortages because of the financial crisis. He believes the agricultural sector is low on funds and inventories are at the lowest levels in decades. An example is a recent trade that most trend followers are in is Sugar. Sugar is still 70% below it’s highs. Can you imagine the potential profits only if sugar rebounds 50%? The same can be said about gold or even coffee.
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