June articles on food versus energy
Monday, June 30th, 2008Inflation hit harder in May as prices for a wide swath of consumer goods rose at their fastest pace in six months, underscoring warnings from central bankers and adding to a growing consensus that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates by the end of the year.
BANGKOK — At least 29 countries have sharply curbed food exports in recent months, to ensure that their own people have enough to eat, at affordable prices.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is planning to increase its output next month by about a half-million barrels a day, according to analysts and oil traders who have been briefed by Saudi officials.
GRIFFIN, Ind. — In a year when global harvests need to be excellent to ease the threat of pervasive food shortages, evidence is mounting that they will be average at best. Some farmers are starting to fear disaster.
June 13, 2008, 7:43 am
In Washington, financial speculators have fat targets on their backs.
They are being blamed for high gas prices, soaring grocery bills and volatile commodity markets, and lawmakers are lashing out at market regulators for not cracking down on them more vigorously.
Glenn Somerville and Eric Burroughs, Reuters Published: Saturday, June 14, 2008
Dai Kurokawa/AFP/Getty ImagesUK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, Slovenia’s Finance Minister and EU Chairman Andrej Bajuk, Joaquin Almunia, Commissioner for Economic and Monetary …
OSAKA, Japan — The world’s richest nations warned on Saturday soaring commodity prices may slice into economic growth, but shrank from offering any plan to calm markets or quell protests over the cost of fuel and food.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, said on Monday that it wanted to convene an energy summit of producers and consumers to focus on “how to objectively deal” with high prices.
By Jan Cienski in Warsaw, Thomas Escritt in Bucharest and Robert Anderson in Stockholm
Published: June 12 2008 02:49 | Last updated: June 12 2008 02:49
Hungary and Slovakia on Wednesday announced unexpectedly high inflation figures, reinforcing concerns about rising costs driven by wage growth and high commodity prices.
Today, we have unprecedented competition for the world’s food supply. Now food inflation is headline news, crop commodities prices are reaching record levels, and prices for key inputs like fertilizer are rising. This is a new reality for all of us and is an example of globalization at its most basic level.
By Julie Ingwersen and Nigel Hunt
CHICAGO/LONDON (Reuters) - Corn prices soared to record highs on Thursday as flooding damaged crop prospects in the U.S. Midwest, heightening concern over shrinking stocks and fueling the market’s relentless advance.
BEIJING — Inflation expectations hit a record high in Britain in May and jumped to a 15-year high in Australia as the European Central Bank reiterated its state of high alert over prices, adding to the prospects of a rise in interest rates globally.
CHICAGO — Commodity prices went wild on Wednesday, with the price of corn shooting through the $7 barrier for the first time, soybeans and wheat moving up sharply and oil jumping more than $5 a barrel.
TCHULA, Miss. — Gasoline prices reached a national average of $4 a gallon for the first time over the weekend, adding more strain to motorists across the country.
ROME — All hail the mighty American corn cob!
American corn was the biggest winner of the United Nations food summit in Rome last week. It wasn’t supposed to be. Many countries and aid agencies - Egypt, Venezuela, Oxfam, even the director-general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization - came into the summit with corn, the de facto international symbol of the biofuels industry, in their gunsights.