Food Price Watch Thread

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wjfox
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Food Price Watch Thread

Post by wjfox »

This is worrying. Food price rises are a major driver of social unrest.

Could we be heading for another period of turmoil like we saw in 2008-2011?

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UN: Cost of food rises at fastest pace in over a decade

2 days ago

Global food prices have jumped at their fastest monthly rate in over a decade, according to the United Nations.

The UN uses a broad index of global food costs, which have also climbed for 12 months in a row.

Suppliers have been affected by disruptions to production, labour and transport during the pandemic.

Concerns are growing about broader inflation and how higher grocery bills will impact the world's economic recovery.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index tracks prices around the world of a range of food including cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar.

According to the index, food prices in May were 4.8% higher than April - the biggest monthly rise since October 2010 - and 39.7% higher than this time last year (May 2020).

All five components of the index rose, led by the surging cost of vegetable oils, grain and sugar.

That pushed the index up to its highest overall level since September 2011.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57353624
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wjfox
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

Post by wjfox »

This could be disastrous in terms of geopolitical stability.

Even a rise of 10% would be bad. But some commodities are pushing nearly 20%...

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Global food prices rise to highest ever levels after Russian invasion

Fri 8 Apr 2022 13.40 BST

Global food prices rose to their highest ever levels in March as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UN has reported.

Cooking oils, cereals and meats hit all-time highs and meant food commodities cost a third more than the same time last year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s monthly food price index published on Friday.

The Russia-Ukraine war has disrupted Black Sea exports of crucial commodities from a region that had been producing more than a quarter of the world’s wheat exports.

The war has helped push cereal prices up 17% over the past month with the closure of ports throttling wheat and maize exports from Ukraine. Russian exports have also been slowed by financial and shipping problems.

World wheat prices soared by 19.7% during March, while maize prices posted a 19.1% month-on-month increase, hitting a record high along with those of barley and sorghum.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-deve ... aine-wheat
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caltrek
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

Post by caltrek »

This reminds me of my future of foods thread. They were (and are) also animated, in part, by my concern over the issue of hunger. In those threads, various alternatives were identified both in items of potential future consumption and in ways of increasing production.

Like so many things, the Ukraine war has heightened the sense of crisis surrounding this issue. The problem is not that there is a lack of alternatives, there are plenty. The crisis is in the potential immediacy of the problem. People need to eat NOW. They cannot wait nine months while new crops are planted in the ground, or new alternatives such as insects are fully developed as a viable alternative food source.

It has been a rather constant theme of mine that city folk need to better understand the political culture of country folk. The potential for mass famine underlines that point. By coincidence, I have been half-heartedly trying to study the depression of the 1930s. One of the themes that constantly re-emerges is the manner in which the agricultural sector suffered in the 1920's, even as life was basically a ball in the roaring twenties of our urban landscape. As a nation, we ignored the problems that were developing in the agricultural sector prior to the depression, and then paid a price.

We complain, quite rightly in some respects, of the inequality of the electoral college system. Yet, that very system ought to force us to pay closer attention to rural problems. As it is, city folks simply don't understand the country, and country folk don't understand the city. A recipe for disaster.

Urban gardening is nice not only because it increases the food basket, but also because it reconnects people back to nature, especially that part of nature that provides our food. As such, it has been a step in the right direction. One wonders, is it a question of too little, too late?

Edit: The word "consumption" was deleted and replaced with "production" to reflect my original intent. The word "sector" was added.
Last edited by caltrek on Sat Apr 09, 2022 10:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

Post by Nanotechandmorefuture »

wjfox wrote: Sun Jun 06, 2021 8:44 am This is worrying. Food price rises are a major driver of social unrest.

Could we be heading for another period of turmoil like we saw in 2008-2011?

-----

UN: Cost of food rises at fastest pace in over a decade

2 days ago

Global food prices have jumped at their fastest monthly rate in over a decade, according to the United Nations.

The UN uses a broad index of global food costs, which have also climbed for 12 months in a row.

Suppliers have been affected by disruptions to production, labour and transport during the pandemic.

Concerns are growing about broader inflation and how higher grocery bills will impact the world's economic recovery.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index tracks prices around the world of a range of food including cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar.

According to the index, food prices in May were 4.8% higher than April - the biggest monthly rise since October 2010 - and 39.7% higher than this time last year (May 2020).

All five components of the index rose, led by the surging cost of vegetable oils, grain and sugar.

That pushed the index up to its highest overall level since September 2011.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57353624
I sure hope not! I remember those times and they sucked!
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caltrek
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

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Denmark Decries EU Decision to Till Fallow Lands in Face of Food Shortage
by Mie Olsen
April 8, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/denmark- ... -shortage/

Introduction:
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (Courthouse News) — This past month, European agriculture officials agreed to let farmers grow food and sow crops on their fallow lands. The decision clashes with the new agricultural reform 2023-2027, which calls for a mandatory 4% increase in unused farmland.

The EU justified the decision as necessary to counter the prospect of a food supply crisis catalyzed by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine export over a quarter of the world´s wheat, and the former is a major global supplier of fertilizer.

In addition, the war has caused a sharp spike in already volatile energy prices, which have tripled for many European households and companies.

While the European Commission states that “food availability is not currently at stake in the EU,” the primary concern is soaring production costs for European farmers and — perhaps more importantly — the inability to export enough food to North Africa and the Middle East.

Allowing farmers to use land that has been ordered fallowed to improve biodiversity — an “exceptional and temporary derogation,” according to EU agriculture officials — is seen as a necessary force majeure measure. Yet Rasmus Prehn, Denmark’s minister for food and agriculture, called it “old-school” and “contra-intuitive” after meeting his colleagues in Brussels.
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

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White House says it expects inflation to be 'extraordinarily elevated' in new report
Source: CNBC
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is bracing for Tuesday’s key consumer inflation report to show that the prices Americans pay soared in March, as Russia’s assault on Ukraine caused energy prices to jump.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the Labor Department’s previous report – which showed prices rising at a dramatic rate in February – failed to include the majority of the jump in oil and gas costs caused by the Kremlin’s unprovoked invasion.

“We expect March CPI headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin’s price hike,” Psaki told reporters.

“We expect a large difference between core and headline inflation,” she continued, “reflecting the global disruptions in energy and food markets.”

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/11/inflati ... eport.html
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Yuli Ban
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

Post by Yuli Ban »

Wouldn't be surprised if there's another stimulus check. Between this and gas prices, I mean.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
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caltrek
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

Post by caltrek »

Yuli Ban wrote: Mon Apr 11, 2022 10:09 pm Wouldn't be surprised if there's another stimulus check. Between this and gas prices, I mean.
No, Senator Manchin is too worried that you will use the money to take a drag on a marijuana cigarette.
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

Post by Nanotechandmorefuture »

caltrek wrote: Mon Apr 11, 2022 11:47 pm
Yuli Ban wrote: Mon Apr 11, 2022 10:09 pm Wouldn't be surprised if there's another stimulus check. Between this and gas prices, I mean.
No, Senator Manchin is too worried that you will use the money to take a drag on a marijuana cigarette.
Those jazz cigarettes may help ease things. It wouldn't matter who makes em business wise it would just calm everything down because right now the environment is antsy.
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

Post by caltrek »

^^^Quoted in Yes, I am Just Joking thread.
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