Already we have food riots, hoarding, panic: the sign of things to come? - Times Online

Already we have food riots, hoarding, panic

The spectre of food shortages is casting a shadow across the globe, causing riots in Africa, consumer protests in Europe and panic in food-importing countries. In a world of increasing affluence, the hoarding of rice and wheat has begun. The President of the Philippines made an unprecedented call last week to the Vietnamese Prime Minister, requesting that he promise to supply a quantity of rice.

“This is a wake-up call,” said Robert Zeigler, who heads the International Rice Research Institute. “We have a crisis brewing in rice supply.” Half of the planet depends on rice but stocks are at their lowest since the mid1970s when Bangladesh suffered a terrible famine. Rice production will fall this year below the global consumption level of 430 million tonnes.

Street protests and rioting in West Africa towards the end of last year were a harbinger of bigger problems, the World Food Programme said. The global information and early warning system of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has monitored outbreaks of rioting in Mexico, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Guinea, Mauritania and Senegal. There have also been protests in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, over government price increases.Population pressure and increased wealth are mainly to blame for the resurgence of food insecurity. More people are eating meat and dairy products in Asia, which increases the demand on the animal-feed industry. Milk powder prices rose from $2,000 to $4,800 per tonne last year as rising consumption of milk products in Asia coincided with shortages in the Western world. Drought in Australia has worsened the problem as have government policies in Europe and America to increase the use of biofuels.

lets verify this with the market. check out DBA an exchange traded fund based on food commodities.

DBA's TOP 10 HOLDINGS ( 106.03% OF TOTAL ASSETS)

Company	Symbol	% Assets
Cbt Wheat (Fut)	N/A	5.71
Corn (Fut)	N/A	25.81
Soybean (Fut)	N/A	27.33
Sugar (Fut)	N/A	25.75
Wheat (Fut)	N/A	18.73
Wheat Future(Kcb) Jul08	N/A	2.7

The index is a rules-based index composed of futures contracts on some of the most liquid and widely traded agricultural commodities – corn, wheat, soy beans and sugar. The index is intended to reflect the performance of the agricultural sector. The fund is nondiversified.

scary very scary.

stock market crash, dollar crash, famine, wars, induced disease and martial law coming to a place near you. all of this is verifiable with the market INCLUDING MARTIAL LAW, more on this later. subscribe for updates. -st0ckman