Food Price Watch Thread

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Ken_J
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

Post by Ken_J »

with the heat levels we've seen so far this year along with drought conditions for years in some areas, it's gotta be effecting crop losses and grain fed meat. Independent of the political and trade issues, I suspect that it's going to get very bad over the next 8-12 months. Like dust bowl bad. and expect prices on what supply we do have to skyrocket.

I wonder how that'll effect the commodities markets and the as collateral damage the stock market. what percentage of those markets are individual investors who will potentially lose jobs, be in over their head on mortgages for homes that were over priced in the last year, and feel the pinch of food and fuel costs to the degree that they raid their investments to keep afloat longer?

and politically we know what the response from the masses will be. it's a right mess we are looking down the barrel of right now.
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caltrek
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The Largest U.S. Spice Company is Raising Prices in America – but Not China
July 22, 2022

Introduction:
(More Perfect Union) McCormick & Co., the world’s largest spice and seasoning company, is looking to recover losses from inflation by raising prices for American consumers, but not Chinese. If you ask CEO Lawrence Kurzius it’s because of “market conditions.”

“Market conditions in China have also allowed very little opportunity to increase prices,” Kurzius told investors earlier in the summer. However, that’s not the case for American consumers. The Maryland-based spice giant is a dominant force in both consumer spices and industrial ingredients. It has already raised prices multiple times in America and is planning additional increases in the back half of 2022. Management expects “pricing actions and other levers to begin to outpace cost pressures late in the third quarter.”
Conclusion:
In 2000, management settled charges with the FTC that it engaged in anti-competitive practices. The FTC alleged that the company offered price discounts to American retailers in exchange for shelf space. In some cases, the federal government estimated that the scheme resulted in McCormick receiving 90% of available shelf space from retailers. Lack of competition is often credited with higher consumer prices.
Read more here: https://perfectunion.us/mccormick-to-r ... ot-china/
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caltrek
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Food Inflation Eating Into Walmart's Gross Sales
July 27, 2022

Introduction:
(Produce News) Walmart revised its outlook for profit for the Q2 and full-year, primarily due to price reductions aimed to improve inventory levels.

Comp sales for Walmart U.S., excluding fuel, are expected to be about 6 percent for the second quarter. This is higher than previously expected with a heavier mix of food and consumables, which is negatively affecting gross margin rate.

"Customers are choosing Walmart to save money during this inflationary period, and this is reflected in the company’s continued market share gains in grocery," the company said in a statement.

Food inflation is double digits and higher than at the end of Q1. This is affecting customers’ ability to spend on general merchandise categories and requiring more markdowns to move through the inventory, particularly apparel.

During the quarter, the company made progress reducing inventory, managing prices to reflect certain supply chain costs and inflation, and reducing storage costs associated with a backlog of shipping containers.
Read more (additional paragraph) here: https://theproducenews.com/headlines/f ... oss-sales
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caltrek
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Want to Lower Grocery prices? Urge Senate to Pass Farm Workforce Modernization Act
by Jeff Brumley
July 28, 2022

Introduction:
(Baptist News Global) Those who think immigrants are stealing American jobs not only are wrong but are imperiling the American economy with their unsubstantiated views, a panel of agricultural leaders said July 27.

“Each year, we see the end of generational farms because it’s harder for our members, and growers across the country, to find a reliable domestic workforce,” said Joel Anderson, executive director of the Idaho-based Snake River Farmer’s Association.

He was one of the panelists on a webinar organized by the Alliance for New Immigration Consensus to support the Farm Workforce Modernization Act., which has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives but remains pending in the Senate. The bill would revive a flagging U.S. economy, improve border protections and strengthen national security, the panel of business owners, farmers and consumer advocates said.
Additional extract:
Passage of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act also would help restore the nation’s food security, said Lori Taylor, founder and CEO of The Produce Moms of Indiana, a consumer advocacy organization.

The anemic seasonal workforce is contributing to higher food prices, which in turn drives up inflation and hunger, she said. “Two of the most resilient communities are our farmers and our moms, but we are at the point where no one can continue to fight against these grocery store prices. We know that comprehensive immigration reform will help drive down the cost of goods in our country.”
Read more here: https://baptistnews.com/article/want-t ... ists-say/
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caltrek
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A Super-Tax on Nutrition in Malnourished India?
by Indra Shekhar Singh
July 31, 2022

Introduction:
(Janata Weekly) Get ready to pay GST on your jhalmuri and bhujiya because amid rising fuel prices, global food inflation and imminent nutrition crisis, the GST Council has taxed most of India’s ‘desi’ food products. Millet, rice, cottage cheese, savouries, lotus seed and jaggery, as per the government’s notification, will have to pay GST for purchases below 25 kilos. The GST, at varying rates, will apply to “pre-packaged” and “labelled” products in the market. The target is ultimately the small buyer of these items, as purchases of over 25 kilos are not in the ambit of the recent notification.

Before we move further, it is vital to understand the term “pre-packaged”. It means “a commodity which, without the purchaser being present, is placed in a package of whatever nature, whether sealed or not, so that the product contained therein has a pre-determined quantity”. So, any quantity of these items weighing below 25 kilos has been brought under the GST net, and even hawkers, street vendors and local grocery/kirana stores will be bound to comply. The GST Council has not even spared local Indian food items such as puffed rice, khoi, and salted snacks.
In a queer way, the GST Council has built upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “pakoda-nomics”. After all, unemployment is a myth. Right? To paraphrase his remarks, if someone opens a pakoda shop before your office, does that not count as employment? A person’s daily earning of Rs. 200 will never come into any books or accounts. The truth is massive people are being employed, Modi had said. And so, the government has decided to tax the pakodawala and every street food vendor through the new notification. It is a clear-cut attempt to formalise the unorganised food sector by discouraging the smallest vendors through a tax burden.

But that is not all. Contrary to its claims of seeking to promote organic farming, the government has even decided to impose GST on organic fertilisers and organic food items. This will directly affect small-scale organic farmers who trade in organic fertilisers or make it. They all need to charge GST on the fertilisers and their produce.
Read more here: https://janataweekly.org/a-super-tax-o ... ed-india/

caltrek's comment: With regressive policies like that in place, it is a wonder that India has not been overtaken by a revolution.
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weatheriscool
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3 more ships with grain depart Ukraine ports under UN deal
Source: AP

By ZEYNEP BILGINSOY and AYA BATRAWY

ISTANBUL (AP) — Three more ships carrying thousands of tons of corn have left Ukrainian ports, officials said Friday, in the latest sign that a negotiated deal to export grain trapped since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly six months ago is slowly materializing. But major hurdles lie ahead to get food to the countries that need it most.

The ships bound for Ireland, the United Kingdom and Turkey follow the first grain shipment to pass through the Black Sea since the start of the war. The passage of that vessel heading for Lebanon earlier this week was the first under the breakthrough deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations with Russia and Ukraine.

The Black Sea region is dubbed the world’s breadbasket, with Ukraine and Russia key global suppliers of wheat, corn, barley and sunflower oil that millions of impoverished people in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia rely on for survival.

While the shipments have raised hopes of easing a global food crisis, much of the grain that Ukraine is trying to export is used for animal feed, not for people to eat, experts say. The first vessels to leave are among more than a dozen bulk carriers and cargo ships that had been loaded with grain but stuck in ports since Russia invaded in late February. And the cargoes are not expected to have a significant impact on the global price of corn, wheat and soybeans for several reasons.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... 261c1a35d9
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caltrek
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Rural Church Offers Community Development Grants through Gratitude Project
by Jeff Brumley
August 5, 2022

Introduction:
(Baptist News Global ) Pastor Dennis Atwood concluded a sermon series focused on gratitude last fall by challenging his congregation at First Baptist Church of Mount Olive to seek systemic solutions to systemic poverty and food insecurity in their rural corner of eastern North Carolina.

What they came up with is the “Gratitude Project,” an ongoing, $100,000 community development grant initiative for local individuals, nonprofits and ministries attempting to address the deep-seated causes of hunger and poverty in Wayne County.

“We’re trying to do some intentional things to target that part of the community because it is undeserved in many ways. It’s a systemic problem, but the solution has to start somewhere,” Atwood said.

The effort caught the attention of Jason Coker, a Baptist minister and president of Together for Hope, a national community development coalition that addresses poverty and hunger mostly in rural areas.

In an email extolling the undertaking, Coker said he hopes other congregations will follow the example of Atwood and his church, which is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Read more here: https://baptistnews.com/article/rural- ... -project/
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weatheriscool
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

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Wholesale inflation fell 0.5% in July, in another sign that price increases are slowing

PUBLISHED THU, AUG 11 2022 * 8:39 AM EDT * UPDATED 10 MIN AGO

Jeff Cox
Wholesale prices fell in July for the first time in two years as a plunge in energy prices slowed the pace of inflation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.

The producer price index, which gauges the prices received for final demand products, fell 0.5% from June, the first month-over-month decrease since April 2020, the month after Covid-19 was declared a pandemic. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting an increase of 0.2%.

On an annual basis, the index rose 9.8%, the lowest rate since October 2021. That compares to an 11.2% increase in June and the record 11.6% gain in March.

Most of the decline came from energy, which declined 9% at the wholesale level.
This is breaking news. Please check back here for updates.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/11/produce ... 2022-.html
weatheriscool
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U.S. inflation outlook brightens as import prices drop, consumer sentiment rises
Source: Reuters

U.S. import prices fell for the first time in seven months in July, helped by a strong dollar and lower fuel and nonfuel costs, while consumers' one-year inflation outlook ebbed in August, the latest signs that price pressures may have peaked.

Import prices, which exclude tariffs, fell 1.4% last month after rising 0.3% in June, the Labor Department said on Friday.

That was the largest monthly drop since April 2020 and exceeded the 1.0% decline expected by economists in a Reuters poll. In the 12 months through July, import prices gained 8.8% after a 10.7% rise in June, marking the annual rate's fourth straight monthly decline.

The report followed other tentative indications earlier this week that inflation was finally coming off the boil. U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in July due to a sharp drop in the cost of gasoline, after advancing 1.3% in June, although underlying price pressures remained elevated. Producer prices also declined last month on the back of lower energy costs.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-i ... 022-08-12/
weatheriscool
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Ship carrying grain for hungry Ethiopia leaves Ukraine
Source: ABC News

KYIV, Ukraine -- A United Nations-chartered ship loaded with 23,000 metric tons of Ukrainian grain destined for Ethiopia set sail Sunday from a Black Sea port, the first shipment of its kind in a program to assist countries facing famine.

The Liberia-flagged Brave Commander departed from the Ukrainian port of Yuzhne, east of Odesa, according to regional governor Maksym Marchenko. It plans to sail to Djibouti, where the grain will be unloaded and transferred to Ethiopia under the World Food Program initiative.

Ukraine and Russia reached a deal with Turkey on July 22 to restart Black Sea grain deliveries, addressing the major export disruption that has occurred since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wi ... s-88360225
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