A Hungry Man Is An Angry Man – Wheat and Corn
There is a drought covering the most land expanse in America since 1956 that even Paul Krugman found reason to write about last weekend. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/the-burning-land/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto
23-Jul-12 | The Economist | American farmland is parched. Already there is speculation that the economic losses will reach billions of dollars |
And photos.
22-Jul-12 | Business Insider | Heartbreaking Photos Show How The Drought Is Devastating Farmers In The Midwest |
Perhaps the markets rather not acknowledge this as a problem yet European headlines continues to dominate because greedy hedge funds can’t give Spain and Greece a break ?
Well, Europe may be saved for the moment.
I did some digging on Bloomberg for commodity production and exports for 2012-2013. This is what I got for the producers.
WHEAT | CORN | |
UNITED STATES | 32,659 | 40,642 |
CANADA | 18,500 | |
AUSTRALIA | 20,500 | |
KAZAKHSTAN | 7,000 | |
BRAZIL | 12,000 | |
ARGENTINA | 16,000 |
And here are the biggest consumers.
WHEAT | CORN | |
JAPAN | 5,900 | 15,500 |
INDONESIA | 6,600 | |
PHILIPPINES | 3,200 | |
S KOREA | 4,400 | 8,000 |
MIDDLE EAST | 25,180 | 15,700 |
BRAZIL | 6,700 |
Michael Pollan mentioned in his book Omnivore’s Dilemma that if humans could consume fossil fuels, it would be far more environmentally friendly than growing that kernel of corn.
And aren’t the Japanese lucky that the European crisis has given enough ammunition in their JPY strength to pay for that corn ? And for the rest of the world, perhaps that little spike in inflation will be a welcome relief, along with the realisation that we cant digest that paper our money is printed on ?