Sabotage of 2011 World Food Supply Is Done
From Dick Eastman
But to date no nation appears worst hit than Pakistan, where flooding has killed 1,600 people and affected 14 million. Landslides have followed the flooding killing dozens more.
Rice crops have also been impacted, furthering concerns of an impending global food crisis. Currently it is estimated that 4 million Pakistani flood victims are in need of food. The floods are being considered the worse in 80 years.
Pakistani glaciologist, Prof M. Iqbal Khan, told the Associated Press of Pakistan that the flooding was linked to melting glaciers in upper Pakistan.
More water vapor also feeds severe storms, boosting their strength and severity. Asia has not been alone in experiencing unusually severe flooding. A number of record floods also hit the United States over the last six months.
Russia is suffering the worst heatwave since record-keeping began here, more than 130 years ago.
''We need to prevent a rise in domestic food prices, we need to preserve the number of cattle and build up reserves for next year,'' Mr Putin said in a meeting broadcast on television. ''As the saying goes: reserves don't make your pocket heavy.''
Higher Food Prices: Russian Heatwave
DailyFinance: http://srph.
According to reports out of Moscow, the Russian Farmers Union says the wheat crop will be down by an estimated 50% this year. That has sent wheat prices soaring from $5 to $7.25 a bushel on the commodity futures market Wednesday, a 45% jump.
Ephraim Leibtag, an economist with the U.S. Agriculture Department's economic research service, says the "pass-through" rate of commodity prices is about 5% to 15% at the retail level.
With a 45% increase in wheat prices, Leibtag expects the cost of wheat-based products like bread, pasta, and flour to rise about 2% to 4% in grocery stores. Consumer goods like breakfast cereal probably won't rise as fast because they contain sugar and ingredients other than wheat.
One side effect of the wheat price rise is the possibility it will cause the price of other commodities, like corn and soybeans, to climb too. If that happens, prices for beef, pork and chicken will also probably go up because corn and soybeans are widely used in animal feed.
Corn, which averaged around $3.50 a bushel earlier this year, was trading at $4.15 a bushel on commodities markets Wednesday. Soybeans, which averaged $9.40 to $9.50, were trading at $10.28 a bushel Wednesday.
"If wheat supplies are down, then demand for the other commodities is going to go up," Shanahan says. "Prices of all commodities are impacted by wheat."
Shanahan says the stocks of retail grocery firms probably won't be hit by the cost increases because they pass those hikes along to consumers. But he notes manufacturers could feel the pinch, especially if oil prices continue to rise beyond the $80 a barrel level.
"The extreme cold front that hit Bolivia in mid-July caused water temperatures to dip below the minimum temperatures river life can tolerate. As a consequence, rivers, lakes, lagoons and fisheries are brimming with decomposing fish and other creatures.
http://www.youtube.
http://www.iceageno
August 8, 2010'oldickeastman@q.com