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135 comments on DrumBeat: July 24, 2006

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kenny on July 24, 2006 - 10:43am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
The "Grain Drain" article and past reports we've seen give a figure of 57 days worth of stored grain for the global food supply.

From that article: "Unless this year's harvest is unexpectedly different from six out of the last seven, the world's ever-decreasing number of farmers will not produce enough staple grains to feed its ever-increasing number of people."

The "scary part" you mention from the Energy Bulletin's list of articles is that this year IS going to be "unexpectedly different" from the last six or seven in that grain harvests could be much, much worse than last year as the result of the heat waves in the U.S. and Europe.

Has anyone seen any forecast or discussion of where that storage cushion may be at the end of the year?

Also, how quickly can ethanol production be ramped up? Can ethanol expansion really have such an immediate impact on supply and price, or is that something more likely to occur 2-5 years down the road?

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Dot on July 24, 2006 - 11:21am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Has anyone seen any forecast or discussion of where that storage cushion may be at the end of the year?

Crop Prospects and Food Situation

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kenny on July 24, 2006 - 12:24pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Thanks. I wonder about the extent to which the prediction takes into account this season's heat waves in the U.S. and Europe. But they've forcast a nearly 10% reduction in end-of-season stocks.
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jjhman on July 25, 2006 - 11:56pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I've been watching grain prices for about a year, expecting to see some reaction in the markets for grains related to either fear of a bad harvest (given falling stocks) or the rising price of oil.  It just ain't happening.  Soybeans, corn, rice and wheat are all running close to their ten year average prices, with rice and wheat showing an increase during this year.  The others quite stable.  It raises the question whether rising oil prices really affect farming so much or are the markets not acting rationally?  Or what?
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tate423 on July 26, 2006 - 12:48pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Where are you getting your info from?  I just read an article yesterday/mon maybe that was talking about peak commodities.  Not every commodity, but they were pointing out grain stocks being lower the last 4-5 yrs and it isn't getting better as we add more souls.  The article was from itulip.com and generally, very reputable.
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ryvr on July 24, 2006 - 7:52pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I wish everyone could be fed, perhaps with the exception of those who, knowing we are running low on food to eat, want to burn it in automobiles.
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135 comments on DrumBeat: July 24, 2006

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