Energy crisis or food crisis?

I have not commented on the world’s inventory of grains, particularly wheat and corn, lately… and things have gotten much worse than I had warned my readers about last year.

“Global stockpiles of wheat will fall to 109.8 million metric tons by the end of the marketing year on May 31, down 11 percent from a year earlier, the USDA said last week. Farmers worldwide are expected to plant more of the grain to capitalize on higher prices.” Bloomberg New November 13, 2007

My readers might remember that as of last year, “days of supply” for wheat was about 57 days, THE LOWEST LEVEL ON RECORD, down from well over 110 days in 1999. Well, inventories are in free fall, and the world’s population increased 1.3%+ over the past year. We are looking at skyrocketing food costs and shortages of wheat based products.

If you think people will react poorly to gas lines, you should try food shortages.

I have a question: Am I the only guy on Wall Street that finds this vaguely important?

We are deep in the danger zone for wheat inventories. We cannot manufacture wheat, we cannot order it from the Martians, or pray for Manna from heaven. We have to grow it. If we run out, we have to wait till next year for additional supply.

I have another question: Am I the only citizen that thinks our food supply is more important than gay marriage, freedom fries, and Barry Bonds nutritional supplements? Am I the only normal person left?


Mentatt (at) yahoo (d0t) com