India, the world’s second-largest wheat producer, has banned exports of the grain with some exceptions, a move that could compound a worldwide shortfall worsened by the war in Ukraine and exacerbate an already dire forecast for hunger across the globe. The war has interrupted wheat production in Ukraine and Russia, which are major suppliers. Fighting and blockades in the Black Sea have disrupted transport of the grain. And poor harvests in China, along with a heat wave in India and […]
International Food
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today, May 10, he is bothered that it will cost more to ship U.S. commodities recently purchased with funds from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust than it cost to buy them and that the issue of the transportation cost “needs to be addressed.” Vilsack made the statement in response to a question from Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., at a Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on President Biden’s fiscal year 2023 request. Vilsack did not use […]
Sign up for The Weekly Planet, Robinson Meyer’s newsletter about living through climate change, here. For the past few days, a heat wave of mind-boggling scale and intensity has gripped South Asia. More than 1 billion people in India and Pakistan have endured daytime highs of 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Delhi, the world’s second-largest city, has suffered through back-to-back days of 110-degree Fahrenheit heat. And Nawabshah, Pakistan—a city of nearly 230,000 people in the country’s desert south—came […]
The rolling crises of the past few years rendered visible so many vital commodities that plenty of us never gave much thought — nickel, silicon chips, lumber. The latest entrant into this camp: Fertilizer. Why it matters: Skyrocketing fertilizer costs — like those made from nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) — are driving up food prices and, worse, threatening food security around the globe. State of play: Prices for NPK were up 125% in January from a year before, and […]
She blamed it squarely on “Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.” May 1, 2022, 3:35 PM • 5 min read Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this article Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said the costs of the war in Ukraine include global food and fertilizer shortages, impacting prices for consumers and farmers around the world. “It is just another catastrophic effect of Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” Power told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on […]
In a speech last week, Janet L. Yellen, the Treasury secretary, said the pandemic and the war had revealed that American supply chains, while efficient, were neither secure nor resilient. While cautioning against “a fully protectionist direction,” she said the United States should work to reorient its trade relationships toward a large group of “trusted partners,” even if it meant somewhat higher costs for businesses and consumers. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director general of the World Trade Organization, said in a […]
As anyone who drives is aware, gasoline prices are up a lot from their 2020 low. First, global economic recovery drove up oil demand, then Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine cut into Russian oil exports. But prices both at the pump and at the wellhead have stabilized, at least for now. By historical standards, real gas prices — prices relative to the overall cost of living — aren’t that high; in fact, they’re lower than they were from 2006 to […]
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Ban ‘totally unexpected’ – India trade group U.S. urges cooperation rather than export bans Indonesian govt under pressure to control cooking oil prices Global prices at records this year after Indonesian curbs Edible oils markets roiled by Ukraine conflict; few replacements JAKARTA, April 22 (Reuters) – Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, announced plans to ban exports of the most widely used vegetable oil on Friday, in a shock move that could further inflame surging global food inflation. The […]
Alongside the sugarcane and soyabeans that sprout from his fields in the interior of São Paulo state, this year José Odilon De Lima Neto plans on sowing a different crop for the first time. “There may be an investment opportunity in wheat due to complications for summer planting in Ukraine and Russia,” said the farmer based near the city of Ribeirão Preto. International prices for the cereal have surged since Moscow invaded its neighbour, reflecting worries that the warring nations […]
Niel Bodon wanted a food truck, but he created something even better. NORFOLK, Va. — When Niel Bodon was a child, he was already preparing for a life in the restaurant business. “My mom ran a place in England when I was 14, and I would jump behind the bar and make sandwiches for people,” Bodon smiled. He said he’s always had a side-gig in a restaurant. Bodon moved to the United States in 1995 as a teacher. Even then, […]
