Record-High Food Prices? Or Just Better Than Record Lows?

Reporters and politicians are making frequent references to high food prices – some going so far as to suggest prices are nearing record levels. But for the farmers and peasants who produce the world’s food, prices are nowhere near record highs. In fact, what is currently happening to corn, beans, rice, or wheat prices would

FAO Warns On Oil As World Food Prices Hit Record

Global food prices hit a record high in February, the United Nations said March 3, warning that fresh oil price spikes and stockpiling by importers keen to head off popular unrest would hit already volatile cereal markets. Rising food prices are a growing global concern, partly fuelling the protests which toppled the rulers of Tunisia


Russia May Extend Grain Export Ban

Russia, worried by soaring food prices and a shortage of grain to feed its livestock, may extend its ban on grain exports until the end of the year, Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said. “We are working on potential forecasts that involve keeping the ban in place until the end of the year,” Zubkov told

Food Inflation Controls May Backfire

Government efforts to control prices, now that food inflation has risen to the top of political agendas across the globe, may hamper a needed increase in supplies, a Cargill director warned Feb. 15. Paul Conway, senior vice-president and board member with the U.S. agribusiness and trading giant, said it was clear that political instability in


Beef Plant Gains Russia Access

Russia has allowed beef imports from Cargill’s plant in Guelph, Ontario, as the world’s No. 2 beef importer gradually lifts restrictions it has had in place on Canadian plants since a 2003 discovery of BSE, or mad cow disease in Western Canada. Access to Russia will mean an additional $2 million in annual sales for

South Korea’s Recovery From Foot-And-Mouth Slow

South Korea’s swine industry could take one or two years to recover from a foot-and-mouth epidemic that has boosted meat purchases by one of the world’s top pork importers. A long-term boost to the country’s pork imports, mainly from the United States, could support U.S. hog futures already at record highs partly on the back


Russia Could Return To The Wheat Market

Russia can regain its place among the world’s top-three wheat exporters in the coming years as long as it can avoid catastrophes such as last year’s massive drought, which resulted in it banning grain sales abroad. Russia had plowed capital into its grains infrastructure as part of a longer-term strategy to push into international wheat

China Food Demand Boosts Brazil Growers’ Profits

Brazil growers will reap healthy profits from the 2010-11 grain crop, despite the high cost of getting goods to port, because strong demand from China is supporting prices, consultants MB Associados said. Despite the downward correction in world commodities prices in the past week, futures prices of commodities from grains to iron ore are still


Surge In Grain Prices May Force BHP’s Hand

Surging world grain markets may force BHP Billiton to raise its $130-a-share offer for PotashCorp by 25 per cent or more as a subsequent jump in fertilizer shares wiped out its initial bid’s premium to investors. The burst in grain prices late last week may herald a fresh round of food inflation that won’t disappear

Meat Price Surge Not Expected In Canada

“There’s definitely a stall on here.” – PERRY MOHR Canada is unlikely to see a surge in meat prices this summer, unlike the United States, where pork and beef prices soared earlier this spring. The wholesale price of pork in the U. S. increased as much as 25 per cent in April, while beef rose