Yurt
04-24-2008, 08:28 PM
just thought i would put the title the MSM and most of the world is probably thinking....
World food fears mount as rice prices hit record
In the United States, Bush Administration officials downplayed notions of food shortages amid reports of worried buyers stocking up on rice in major chain stores.
"In the U.S., I don't see food shortages," U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Reuters in an interview. "We have plenty of food in the U.S. The price of food has gone up, but again that won't be as significant for the average American as gasoline."
Rice prices hit record highs in Thailand and in electronic trading of Chicago Board of Trade futures during Asian trading hours. This week's 5 percent jump in Thailand rice takes prices to $1,000 a ton, nearly triple their level at the start of the year, intensifying fears of social unrest in Asia.
Rice prices on the CBOT are up about 80 percent this year, hitting a record of more than $25 per hundredweight in Asian trading hours, then retreating in Chicago on profit taking.
Riots have erupted in Africa and Haiti due to the surging price of fuel and food. The International Monetary Fund is in talks with governments in 10 countries, mostly in Africa, about boosting aid to cover soaring food prices, a spokesman said.
"Of course this needs to be determined country by country, but as a general rule we believe that targeted social assistance is the first best policy, but that other temporary measures may be needed and could be used, such as tax on food," IMF spokesman Masood Ahmed said.
"We have also encouraged our members who are food exporters to avoid disruptions to global markets, such as through export restrictions of food and to preserve domestic production incentives," Ahmed added.
At the United Nations, the World Food Program's executive director said the cost of feeding the world's hungry has spiked nearly 40 percent amid spiraling food costs and oil prices,
Unless donor governments can plug the gap, the U.N. food agency will need to trim operations, Josette Sheeran told reporters in New York by video link from WFP headquarters in Rome.
The crisis began last year with India's imposition of export curbs to protect domestic supplies. This week, even the United States felt the reverberations, as major retailers started to notice signs of panic buying.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080424/ts_nm/food_dc
World food fears mount as rice prices hit record
In the United States, Bush Administration officials downplayed notions of food shortages amid reports of worried buyers stocking up on rice in major chain stores.
"In the U.S., I don't see food shortages," U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Reuters in an interview. "We have plenty of food in the U.S. The price of food has gone up, but again that won't be as significant for the average American as gasoline."
Rice prices hit record highs in Thailand and in electronic trading of Chicago Board of Trade futures during Asian trading hours. This week's 5 percent jump in Thailand rice takes prices to $1,000 a ton, nearly triple their level at the start of the year, intensifying fears of social unrest in Asia.
Rice prices on the CBOT are up about 80 percent this year, hitting a record of more than $25 per hundredweight in Asian trading hours, then retreating in Chicago on profit taking.
Riots have erupted in Africa and Haiti due to the surging price of fuel and food. The International Monetary Fund is in talks with governments in 10 countries, mostly in Africa, about boosting aid to cover soaring food prices, a spokesman said.
"Of course this needs to be determined country by country, but as a general rule we believe that targeted social assistance is the first best policy, but that other temporary measures may be needed and could be used, such as tax on food," IMF spokesman Masood Ahmed said.
"We have also encouraged our members who are food exporters to avoid disruptions to global markets, such as through export restrictions of food and to preserve domestic production incentives," Ahmed added.
At the United Nations, the World Food Program's executive director said the cost of feeding the world's hungry has spiked nearly 40 percent amid spiraling food costs and oil prices,
Unless donor governments can plug the gap, the U.N. food agency will need to trim operations, Josette Sheeran told reporters in New York by video link from WFP headquarters in Rome.
The crisis began last year with India's imposition of export curbs to protect domestic supplies. This week, even the United States felt the reverberations, as major retailers started to notice signs of panic buying.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080424/ts_nm/food_dc