U.S. grain stockpiles are lowest in 15 years

[somone]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70B1BL20110112

U.S. crop stockpile thins as weather and demand drive prices
By Russell Blinch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States, long the breadbasket to the world, is expected to confirm on Wednesday that its grain stockpiles are the lowest in years, darkening hopes for any quick relief from surging global food prices.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was expected to show in its monthly crop report a further deterioration in supplies at home, and to forecast how severe weather was hurting harvests from such powerhouses at Argentina and Australia. World grain markets have been surging on bad weather and rising demand. With this backdrop, governments around the world are increasingly worried about food inflation after the UN Food and Agriculture Organization recently said international food prices have topped the previous record set in 2008.

Forecasts for year-end inventories of U.S. corn -- used to make food, feed and fuel -- were expected to fall nearly 8 percent to 10.1 billion bushels, the lowest level in a decade and a half, according to analysts' estimates.

In the report, the USDA will likely add to the gloom with further details of the impact of searing drought in Argentina, one of the world's biggest exporters of soybeans and corn. Forecasts for Australia's wheat crop are also expected to be dire as the country struggles with massive flooding. With 2010 expected to be one of the warmest on record and which saw floods in Pakistan and drought in the Black Sea wheat belt, world farm stocks were already strained...

[Hannah Bell]

1. gee, i wish they could get their stories straight when the speculators are ramping up the fear

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2878414

back in 2007 similar stories -- about wheat, rice, chinese eating too much]

- but if you went into the data it was record harvests & speculators ramping up the fear

lies then, lies now

there's always some bad harvest they can blame the lies on

the main reason us wheat harvests are down is because they cut back acreage

the main reason the us reserve level is down is because the gov't deliberately cut the reserve levels required

i hate these people

[social_critic]

4. I don't think speculators are ramping up the fear

Food prices are going up because demand outpaces supply. The increased demand is caused by very healthy economic growth around the world - only a few economies remain in negative GDP territory, such as Venezuela and Spain. But others are growing at a very fast pace, and this means the population has more money to spend buying food.

I'm a "speculator", I looked at the trend and bought into a commodities fund. So I own a small piece of the action. The money I paid was used to buy contracts for the stuff to be delivered at a certain price. Today, the price people are willing to pay for it is higher than before, so I'm making money from the difference. If I hadn't bought the stuff, the seller (the farmer) would have sold it today at market price anyway. So the one who "loses" in this case is the farmer, who decided to get the price guarantee by preselling his crop. If prices had dropped, then the farmer would be making a killing, and I would be taking a blood bath, like I did in 2008 when prices did drop.

I hope this helps. Many of you don't understand the way the market works, nor do you realize that farmers are the ones who take the service by selling their crops ahead at a guaranteed price. Overall, if food prices go up, this is good because it encourages more farmers to plant more food, and it also helps those who work farms to get paid more. And the countryside is usually a lot poorer than the cities. So why not let the poor rural folk around the world benefit? It's the fair thing to do.

[Hannah Bell]

5. BULLSHIT

[Historic NY]

2. Well when were burning it for fuel instead of eating it, its bound to be depleted.

[Anakin Skywalker]

3. Why? Is that stupid Atkins diet fad over and people are eating carbs again?