The Baltic Dry Index (replaces the Baltic Freight Index). A composite of the Baltic Capesize, Panamax, Handysize and Supramax indices. The index is designed as the successor to the Baltic Freight Index and was first published on 1 November 1999.
- "There are many tsunamis in the agri world, but this is a big one The floods in Southern China will cause huge damage to China's rice production. There will be extensive damage to a host of other crops but let's focus on Asia's staple : rice.
- "David Cui reckons that up to 13m tonnes may be lost, or over 10% of China's harvest. To put it into context, 13m is equivalent to the total exports out of Thailand and Vietnam combined : the world's top 2 exporters. It's two years' worth of US production. The equivalent in the oil world would be Russia not producing any oil for four months... Where would oil prices be then?
- "And another snippet : if China wants to replace this lost crop by importing, that would soak up 50% of global trade... so where do we think rice prices are going to head in that monopsonistic scenario ?
- The point is that China subsidizes rice prices by about 40% vs global prices and these floods have to put pressure on global prices exacerbating the situation. Unless China raises domestic prices, smuggling, already an issue, will escalate."
In economics, a monopsony (from Ancient Greek μόνος (monos) "single" + ὀψωνία (opsōnia) "purchase") is a market form with only one buyer, called "monopsonist," facing many sellers.
Credit "don't call me CSFB" Suisse is out with a glossy mega tome, the like (and weight) of which we rarely see these days, on the theme of food and rural income in Asia. (Never mind about the trees.)
The central thesis is that Asia's need for food self-sufficiency will rival the Western world's need for energy, with demand growing at a faster clip than supply... with inventories in Asia now already at a 30 year low, this problem will take years to fix. Total acreage supply in Asia is growing at only 0.3% per annum since 1990 - the only way Asia can meet its growing demand is through yield enhancement.
In the meantime (during the meanwhilst), rural incomes will likely grow at a rate so far only seen in urban centres. That's 1.7bn people connected to agriculture in Asia, and rising farm investment and rural income is likely very different to how most investment portfolios are focused. Most of the research I see these days focuses on urban wealth creation (BMW-aspiring yuppies and supermarket/ department store shoppers.)
Call me old fashioned, but I don't find food shortages, riots and starvation as amusing as TheStreet.com appears to."(W)e sure do have a lot to look forward to in the future, people. There's new federal spending on biofuels. Much of this is for ethanol, which has the unfortunate side effect of creating more greenhouse gases than it eliminates, and, of course, helping to create a planetary crisis over rising food costs."Meanwhile, "Across Globe, Empty Bellies Bring Rising Anger":
"Saint Louis Meriska’s children ate two spoonfuls of rice apiece as their only meal recently and then went without any food the following day. His eyes downcast, his own stomach empty, the unemployed father said forlornly, “They look at me and say, ‘Papa, I’m hungry,’ and I have to look away. It’s humiliating and it makes you angry.”"What else can one say?
"Countries such as Argentina, Kazakhstan, India and Vietnam have stopped their farmers selling crops abroad or taxed exports heavily in an effort to keep localmarkets well-supplied and local prices for those crops low. This means the farmers in these countries are not benefiting from record international prices. At the same time, these farmers are facing higher costs in the shape of higher prices for diesel, seed and fertilizers. The result? Some farmers are cutting their acreage."
"The Chinese State Council announced today (April 17) that a decision has been made to impose a special tariff of 100% on exports of fertilizer and fertilizer raw materials from China... effective from April 20 through September 30, 2008... Substantially Lower Chinese Exports Likely... (this) will further tighten the global supply/demand balance."
Stumble It!
... & Here's the dropdown ::
(...but really it's all the same thing!)
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