Food

[Alphanumeric]

Commodity Food Price Index


2007-2008; North African "Bread Riots" and Mexican "Tortilla Riots". 2010-2011; "Arab Spring" and Russian/Ukrainian grain export ban due to massive drought .


Recalling ‘Tortilla Riots,’ Mexico President Warns About Food Crisis
-cnbc

World leaders must take swift action to avert a possible food price shock in 2013, Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon says, warning unchecked price volatility in staple food items could trigger an escalation in poverty to crisis levels.

“I'm afraid that this new phenomenon of rising of prices of food around the world will provide a new round of crisis related with poverty,” Calderon told CNBC in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

“The problems in Africa, even the Arab spring, in my opinion are some way or another related to the price of food,” Calderon said, adding that next year could mark “a new round of very high prices.”

WashPost:

Historic U.S. drought will continue into spring and summer, experts say

Nearly five months after expanding to cover the greatest area on record, the devastating drought of 2012 continues to spread woe across the central and western U.S. And, according to climate researchers, severely dry conditions will persist throughout the spring and summer.

- Feb. 22, 2013

IRRI:

Looming drought in India: what’s at stake for the global rice market?

More than half way into the monsoon season, many Indian states continue to reel under deficient rainfall. Many experts feel this monsoon is worse than even the 2009 season when drought reduced Indian rice production by more than 10 percent. But it is still too early to gauge the extent of damage to rice production because of deficit rainfall.

Nation:

PM vows to tackle worsening drought

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday expressed concern that drought conditions in many provinces could intensify over the next three months and vowed to continue to pursue long-term solutions focused on sustainable water management.

In her weekly TV programme "Yingluck Government Meets the People", the premier said the government had reviewed its strategies for tackling drought to avoid repeated problems, as 29 provinces have now been declared drought disaster zones.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=304425&p=3630445

SCMP:

Laos starts construction of controversial mega Mekong River dam ‘this week’

Nov. 5, 2012

SCMP:

Laos may need incentive to stop building Mekong dam

Doing business in agriculture or fisheries in the Mekong Delta is not looking like such a good long-term bet these days. For now, the Mekong's waters, rich in nutrients, rise and fall as they have for thousands of years, and the yield is good. Those days, however, are coming to an end.

Laos is building the Xayaburi hydroelectric dam to block the Mekong, despite promising its neighbours that share the river it would not. The dam will irreversibly change the nature of the river already under stress from several dams upstream in Yunnan. Cambodia and Vietnam, which lie downstream, pleaded for delay, to no avail, at a recent meeting of the Mekong River Commission, a think tank in all but name.

Damn well hope at least one of you took my warning.

Something's coming, and it won't be limited to another set of riots in the developing world. Sooner or later, it'll hit home.

[SultanOrder]

Vietnam would go to war, they don't play any games, and China would support Vietnam.

[Alphanumeric]

U.S. Companies Shrink Packages as Food Prices Rise

Large food companies have recently announced that they will raise the prices they charge grocery retailers for commodities-based products. For example, a chocolate bar will cost more soon: Hershey last week announced a 10% increase for most of its confectionery goods.

Of course, straightforward price hikes could cause consumers to buy less of those products or to choose less costly store brands. So in many cases, food companies are trying a different tactic: Keeping the price of an item the same while decreasing the amount of food in the package. The company recoups the costs of the rise in commodities and hopes consumers don't notice that they're getting less of the product for the same price.

Food companies accused of shrinking size of food packets

Watchdog, the BBC consumer programme, has found that a number of well known household snacks and treats have shrunk slightly in size, even though the price they are sold for at supermarkets have not done so.

Shrinking Products: Paying The Same for Less

On ABC News’ trip to the supermarket, 14 products were found that had recently gotten smaller.

Food Inflation Kept Hidden in Tinier Bags

With unemployment still high, companies in recent months have tried to camouflage price increases by selling their products in tiny and tinier packages. So far, the changes are most visible at the grocery store, where shoppers are paying the same amount, but getting less.

Vietnam would go to war, they don't play any games, and China would support Vietnam.

Calm down and stock up on canned goods. You live around folks who've bought nothing but ammo and MREs for the last 8 years. Think you've got more to worry about than the Vietnamese.

[Alphanumeric]

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableau ... 5a-eng.htm

[SultanOrder]

Alpha, would it be morally wrong to play futures with food commodities?

[Alphanumeric]

Some people have said speculation is the reason for the massive price hikes. I think Calderon even made similar statements publically. Moral ambiguity aside, you will make a filthy amount of money.

[CushiticReflections]

Some people have said speculation is the reason for the massive price hikes. I think Calderon even made similar statements publically. Moral ambiguity aside, you will make a filthy amount of money.

That is exactly it. Because of structural adjustment programs imposed on "third world" nations by the IMF and World Bank (which serve the interests of Western nations, specifically the US), the pressure to stop producing food stocks and staple foods, to depend more on the international market (among other factors), there was decreased self-reliance of these nations. Indian activist Vandana Shiva briefly describes this very well:



Corporations have hiked up food prices, which are unregulated, for profit which has led to widespread hunger. There is also the issue of multinational corporations buying out most of the fertile land in poor nations, such as Guatemala, leaving mostly infertile land for the citizens. These multinational corporations then sell their produce at a much lower price than local growers, putting locals out of business. Destitute, they are often left with no other choice but to work for these corporations for a very meagre wage. So there is widespread hunger, a food crisis, while a great portion of their land is very fertile and they often work in agriculture. This article probably explains this situation better than I can.

Considering how the corporations and international institutions are based or run mainly by Western businessmen, it is no surprise that Western governments do not want true changes in the systems that created these crises. After all, it is clear that if their corporations are profiting, they are profiting. Being predominantly capitalist and neoliberal/neorealist in general, their benefit outweighs the crises they've caused others.

Aid from these governments is questionable. Often, the stated amounts are not seen in full by the people of "third world" nations. And, very often, this aid does not come in the form of actual money. There are also related issues of tied aid (which, again, benefits the Western nations financially) and use of aid as maintenance of the patron-comprador relationship which endures from the days of colonialism. So, in many ways, formal colonialism has ended but it continues despite the facade of "sovereign" and (in some cases) "democratic" governments of former colonies/"third world".

[Negritude]

No wonder my fat ass is going broke

[Alphanumeric]

Some people have said speculation is the reason for the massive price hikes. I think Calderon even made similar statements publically. Moral ambiguity aside, you will make a filthy amount of money.

That is exactly it. Because of structural adjustment programs imposed on "third world" nations by the IMF and World Bank (which serve the interests of Western nations, specifically the US), the pressure to stop producing food stocks and staple foods, to depend more on the international market (among other factors), there was decreased self-reliance of these nations. Indian activist Vandana Shiva briefly describes this very well:
[youtube]v=6KfvYjZ5fyw[/youtube]


Corporations have hiked up food prices, which are unregulated, for profit which has led to widespread hunger. There is also the issue of multinational corporations buying out most of the fertile land in poor nations, such as Guatemala, leaving mostly infertile land for the citizens. These multinational corporations then sell their produce at a much lower price than local growers, putting locals out of business. Destitute, they are often left with no other choice but to work for these corporations for a very meagre wage. So there is widespread hunger, a food crisis, while a great portion of their land is very fertile and they often work in agriculture. This article probably explains this situation better than I can.

Considering how the corporations and international institutions are based or run mainly by Western businessmen, it is no surprise that Western governments do not want true changes in the systems that created these crises. After all, it is clear that if their corporations are profiting, they are profiting. Being predominantly capitalist and neoliberal/neorealist in general, their benefit outweighs the crises they've caused others.

Aid from these governments is questionable. Often, the stated amounts are not seen in full by the people of "third world" nations. And, very often, this aid does not come in the form of actual money. There are also related issues of tied aid (which, again, benefits the Western nations financially) and use of aid as maintenance of the patron-comprador relationship which endures from the days of colonialism. So, in many ways, formal colonialism has ended but it continues despite the facade of "sovereign" and (in some cases) "democratic" governments of former colonies/"third world".

OK.

[Alphanumeric]

Farmers vow mass protest if rice price cut

[AgentOfChaos]

Interesting read.

[PrinceDaadi]

I have been telling our share holders that we should set up a cereal trading company! i would have made a good bonus!

[Lillaahiya]

OK.

[Based]

Vietnam would go to war, they don't play any games, and China would support Vietnam.

[Keyblade]

that reminds me i need to jam some Mekong Delta