Food Security: Food Prices – Update 28 April, 2008
Some good news on wheat supply and prices, Financial Times 24 April 2008:-
Ukraine said it would allow exports of 1.2m tonnes in the next two months, up from a previous quota of just 200,000 tonnes.
Sorin Vaslobal, of Paris-based cereals broker Plantureux, said Kiev’s decision could trigger a domino effect. “We see Ukraine’s move as applying pressure on Russia to remove its 40 per cent export tax,” he said. Argentina and Kazakhstan have also restricted their wheat exports.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have asked agriculture commodities exporters to scrap or at least ease their foreign sales restrictions.
The International Grains Council on Thursday said the global wheat crop will hit a record 645m tonnes this year, up from 603.5m tonnes in 2007, as weather improves and farmers sow more wheat at the expense of crops such as corn. Luke Chandler, a cereal analyst at Rabobank in Sydney, said: “Wheat prices are expected to ease in the second half of 2008 as a potential record-breaking world wheat crop looms.”
This is a good sign, but much remains to be done, especially in the areas of:-
- market access
- farming practice
- agriculture development
- governance
- aid
