Forget Oil, the New Global Crisis is Food

January 17, 2008

This recent article from the Financial Post summarizes a talk given by Donald Coxe, a global portfolio strategist with BMO Financial Group. According to Coxe, the price of food has been rising dramatically, reflecting higher oil prices, increased demand for ethanol (which is made from corn), and increasing demand for meat and dairy products from countries like China and India, whose middle classes want to eat like North Americans. Some of the statistics include:

• Raw food prices have increased 22% over 2007;
• Price of corn has increased 44% in the past 15 months;
• Price of wheat is up 92% over 2007;
• Consumers paid 6.5% more for food in 2007.

Read the full article.