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| Dramatic rise in the worldwide cost of food | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 12 2008, 06:12 PM (616 Views) | |
| ds9074 | Apr 12 2008, 06:12 PM Post #1 |
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Admiral
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I've certainly noticed that the cost of food has risen quite steeply this year. I just wonder how much higher it will go. At least in developed countries we have the wealth to pay higher prices and the capacity to a) generally reduce our consumption if necessary, particularly of meat and b) reduce our levels of waste. It will be the people who dont have those options who will be hit hardest if these high prices continue. |
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| RTW | Apr 12 2008, 08:24 PM Post #2 |
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Vice Admiral
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Two of the worlds main grain producing countries had catastrophic problems with their crops so prices skyrocketed. In the US, for example, wheat went from ~$3.00/bushel to ~$15.00/bushel. Prices should drop this year. |
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| Minuet | Apr 12 2008, 10:55 PM Post #3 |
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Fleet Admiral Assistant wRench, Chief Supper Officer
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They listed a lot more reasons then that. Prices may recover partially, but I don't think they will drop to previous price levels. I think that the rising demand for meat and the use of corn for biofuels has had a much larger impact then the reduced crops in the two countries mentioned in the article. |
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| somerled | Apr 12 2008, 11:06 PM Post #4 |
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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A lot of this is coupled food crops being diverted to ethanol production to blend with petroleum as an extender , the "biofuel" producers are contributing significantly to this, so much so that some countries like India and Vietnam have now banned exports of rice in order to assure sufficient food stocks. The increasing cost of moving food due to escallating fuel costs is also contributing a lot to this problem. I personally consider diverting food and feedstock to ethanol production to be stupidity and unethical. |
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| ds9074 | Apr 13 2008, 05:21 AM Post #5 |
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Admiral
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I read recently that in the 10 years from 1990-2000 the average price of a loaf of bread in the UK rose by just 2 pence. Since 2000 the average price of a loaf of bread has risen by 50 pence, most of that in the last year. That kind of increase is a shock to the system when people have been used to fairly stable prices of food. |
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| LoriCiani | Apr 13 2008, 10:56 PM Post #6 |
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"Effective against all things... except wood!"
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It's not just bread that has taken a sudden rise, all the other things that either involve wheat or that eats it has risen. I usually get from Tesco 15 Value eggs for £1.25, last time I went shopping they were £1.50. That's a sudden jump of 25p, and I don't think that will be the last rise either.
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| Admiralbill_gomec | Apr 14 2008, 08:38 AM Post #7 |
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UberAdmiral
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Well, if we'd stop burning food in this foolish quest to create ethanol this wouldn't be so severe. Second, if we'd start building refineries again the ones in use wouldn't have to run at 98% capacity, driving up oil prices (which drive up food costs). By the way, note cheap prices for meat right now. This is because it costs too much to feed them so farmers are reducing their herds. |
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| somerled | Apr 14 2008, 10:25 AM Post #8 |
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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Well , rather than building more oil refineries , which will likely become exteemely expensive white elephants in a decade or two when petrol is priced out the reach of a lot / or most car owners , the big oil companies could get their collective arses into gear with regards getting the hydrogen cycle widely out their , so could the major car makers , and phasing out petroleum as a fuel all together. BTW : building an entirely new oil refinery of any significant capacity is not something that will happen overnight , you are talking a major project that will likely take a decade or more design , build and bring on line and then ramp up to full production , and then you face a shortage of trained / competent engineering and operations staff , who will lilkely have to be trained up. Maybe it will come down to federal and national governments putting their feet down hard on the big oil companies and compelling them to / forcing this change onto them. Since they are seem reluctant to change. |
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| ds9074 | Apr 14 2008, 10:30 AM Post #9 |
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Admiral
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I've not seen meat prices falling. If anything meat prices have gone up the most dramatically, to the point where I am eating more vegetarian dishes. Today I was working out of town and between meeting I went to grab something quick. Just a single burger on its own, no drink no fries, cost me £2.99. An actual cut of beef for roasting can set you back £5-£10 here. |
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| somerled | Apr 14 2008, 10:34 AM Post #10 |
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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Meat prices have been going up here too ,so have the price of bread. And at a faster rate than petrol has too. |
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| Dandandat | Apr 14 2008, 10:34 AM Post #11 |
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Time to put something here
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ROE is to small to make it a worth while investment, untill that changes dont expect change. |
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| ds9074 | Apr 14 2008, 10:55 AM Post #12 |
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Admiral
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Figures out today show that the price of inputs for UK producers rose by 2.9% last month and have risen 20.6% in the last year. Apparently thats the fastest rate of increase in 17 years. |
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| Admiralbill_gomec | Apr 14 2008, 01:38 PM Post #13 |
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UberAdmiral
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I'm paying less per pound than I did for the following items: Boneless chicken breast ($2.09 a pound as opposed to $2.24) Flatiron cut steak ($3.09 a pound as opposed to $3.39) Ground beef, 91% lean ($2.20 as opposed to $2.45) Pork loin ($1.95 a pound as opposed to $1.99) Those four I have actual records of. The price I pay for boneless leg of lamb has not changed in five years for me. Still $3.99 a pound. On the other hand, milk has shot up 50% in the past year, only to settle back down a bit. A year ago I was paying $2.15 a gallon for skim milk. It went as high as $3.25 a gallon this February. Now the price has settled to $2.95. Note: I buy all of these at Costco. Yes, they are in bulk. The price of vegetables has also jumped significantly. |
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| Hoss | Apr 14 2008, 01:42 PM Post #14 |
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Don't make me use my bare hands on you.
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As long as they don't put the squeeze on hot pockets, I won't complain too loudly. |
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| Admiralbill_gomec | Apr 14 2008, 01:53 PM Post #15 |
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UberAdmiral
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I hate to tell you, but the hydrogen cycle IS the petroleum industry. Oil is a hydrocarbon, after all. The government is not going to put their "feet down hard" on "big oil" because "big oil" is owned by the the same people who put them into office, all those millions of folks who are their shareholders. The thing about Utopian dreams is that they are just dreams. If you mean having cars running off of hydrogen instead, that just isn't ever going to happen. I figured you'd know that hydrogen-tight connections are far more expensive than what is currently used. You aren't going to see a hydrogen station the way you would a gas (petrol) station. That's just not going to happen. Besides, even if you could do all this, because you need fossil fuels to create hydrogen economically. Indeed, the idea of having a high pressure tankful of an odorless and colorless flammable gas doesn't give me the warm fuzzies. Fuel cells are fine, for small vehicles on smooth surfaces. Fuel cells are very fragile and ongoing bumps and vibration will damage them. They're also expensive to produce. The technology is going nowhere, and even the leading developer of automotive fuel cell technology gave up last year. Hell, you'd be better off burning methane, as low a number of BTUs that fuel generates. Lastly, who is going to pay to develop the infrastructure? I could go on, but you get the picture. Sorry, but oil is the only substance with sufficient energy per cubic centimeter to fuel our infrastructure. No, we aren't going to be forced to give up our cars (you first, by the way) and given bicycles and forced to ride trolleys and trains. It didn't work for Red China, and it won't work for the rest of the civilized world. EDIT: I almost forgot to add, most additional refinery production in this country would be done as add-ons to existing refinery production. The plans already exist. Turnaround is more like four years. |
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