Unhypnotized
Truth feeder
Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The last time food prices hit ridiculous levels, the immediate outcome was global food riots in places such as Haiti and Bangladesh.
Which is why distributors of riot equipment in the world’s poorest countries may be in for a bumper crop as the Food and Agriculture Organization has just announced that world food prices have just surpassed the previous record last seen in 2007-2008. But it’s ok: according to the centrally planning Chairman it’s all good, and the inflation is really just in our heads.
After all, courtesy of the recent spike in mortgage rates, home prices now have about 10% to drop, meaning even less equity will be extracted from already substantially depressed food prices.
From the FT article, which we are confident Ben Bernanke will never read:
Food prices hit a record high last month, surpassing the levels seen during the 2007-08 crisis, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation said on Wednesday.
The Rome-based organisation said the increase did not constitute a crisis. But Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist at the FAO, acknowledged that the situation was “alarming”. He added: “It will be foolish to assume this is the peak.”
The jump will increase fears about the repetition of the crisis of 2007-2008. However, poor countries have not so far seen the wave of food riots that rocked countries such as Haiti and Bangladesh two years ago, when prices of agricultural commodities jumped.
It gets better:
However, the cost of the other critical staple, wheat, is now rising fast on the back of poor harvests.
“This is a high prices situation,” said Mr Abbassian, although he pointed to the fact the costs of cereals – and particularly rice – were below the peaks set in 2007-08. “Rice and wheat are, from a global food security perspective, the critical agricultural commodities, not sugar, oilseeds or meat,” he said.
As Zero Hedge predicted some time in October, the next bubble will be in the 3Rs: Rare Earths, Rubber and Rice. Real Earths have come (and maybe gone). Rubber is coming. Rice is now here.
Source...
Zero Hedge
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The last time food prices hit ridiculous levels, the immediate outcome was global food riots in places such as Haiti and Bangladesh.
Which is why distributors of riot equipment in the world’s poorest countries may be in for a bumper crop as the Food and Agriculture Organization has just announced that world food prices have just surpassed the previous record last seen in 2007-2008. But it’s ok: according to the centrally planning Chairman it’s all good, and the inflation is really just in our heads.
After all, courtesy of the recent spike in mortgage rates, home prices now have about 10% to drop, meaning even less equity will be extracted from already substantially depressed food prices.
From the FT article, which we are confident Ben Bernanke will never read:
Food prices hit a record high last month, surpassing the levels seen during the 2007-08 crisis, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation said on Wednesday.
The Rome-based organisation said the increase did not constitute a crisis. But Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist at the FAO, acknowledged that the situation was “alarming”. He added: “It will be foolish to assume this is the peak.”
The jump will increase fears about the repetition of the crisis of 2007-2008. However, poor countries have not so far seen the wave of food riots that rocked countries such as Haiti and Bangladesh two years ago, when prices of agricultural commodities jumped.
It gets better:
However, the cost of the other critical staple, wheat, is now rising fast on the back of poor harvests.
“This is a high prices situation,” said Mr Abbassian, although he pointed to the fact the costs of cereals – and particularly rice – were below the peaks set in 2007-08. “Rice and wheat are, from a global food security perspective, the critical agricultural commodities, not sugar, oilseeds or meat,” he said.
As Zero Hedge predicted some time in October, the next bubble will be in the 3Rs: Rare Earths, Rubber and Rice. Real Earths have come (and maybe gone). Rubber is coming. Rice is now here.
Source...