[nocar]

Yes, Strider, today wheat is 1002 (CBT) and 1020 (KCB) while crude is no more than 92.

But why did you think that oil whould go up so much faster than wheat (and other grains)? After all, food is the very basic energy source, the one we have in common with all animals. And modern agriculture is very energyintensive - instead of providing energy, it consumes energy. (Well, I admit that as long as humans have been using fire for cooking, food preparation has used energy - but people needed food energy to collect the wood, didn't they?)

I regard food prices as more fundamentally important than oil prices.

nocar

[strider3700]

I entirely agree that food is more important then oil. I however believe that the market currently views the two as effectively independent. Yes oil is used to grow food and yes sometimes food is used to make fuel but in 99% of the worlds views the two have little to do with each other. I am aware that this is a naive view. Anyway I was basically expecting oil to shoot through the roof quicker then food and hit 100 first. Looking at your past posts it looks like wheat has basically doubled plus some in the last year. Oil has basically doubled minus some in the past year.

How anyone can say inflation is in check I have no idea.

[nocar]

A new record - at least in daily increase, up to 30 cents per bushel and then it was not allowed to rise more, in both exchanges
Now CBT is 973.0 (not quite a record) and KCB is 1020.2 (a record)


http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/commod ... tures.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')heat Rises Exchange Limits on Demand, Shrinking U.S. Supplies

By Tony C. Dreibus

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat gained the most allowed by the exchanges in Chicago and Minneapolis as demand increased for varieties of the grain in short supply and on concerns growers won't plant enough spring varieties to meet buyers' needs.

[nocar]

Went up again today, CBT 982.8, KCB 1035.0 . I believe the KCB price is a true record, but I found no comment about this on the commodity section.

Expect your food bill to rise. Or change to cheaper foods.


http://bloomberg.com/markets/commodities/cfutures.html

nocar

[nocar]

Well, now there was a comment in Bloomberg on the new record. Note that the price now is given in dollars, a year ago it was cents

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Wheat Surges Past $10 a Bushel in Chicago on Shrinking Supplies

By Tony C. Dreibus

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat soared above $10 a bushel in Chicago and reached a record in Minneapolis on shrinking supplies of high-protein spring varieties from the U.S. and Canada, the two largest exporters.

U.S. spring-wheat inventories will total 88 million bushels on May 31, down 25 percent from a year earlier, according to government forecasts. Canadian supplies on Dec. 31 were 30 percent smaller than December 2006, Statistics Canada said today. In the past year, Chicago futures doubled and in Minneapolis, where spring wheat trades, prices almost tripled.

``Spring wheat is carrying the load for the entire grain complex,'' said Dewey Strickler, president of Ag Watch Market Advisers in Nashville, Tennessee.

Wheat for March delivery jumped 30 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $10.03 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the biggest grain market in North America. It's the second straight day the price gained the 30-cent limit allowed by the exchange. The most-active contract reached a record $10.095 a bushel on Dec. 17, partly on concern that world demand would exceed production.

[joewp]

Wheat limits up once again, third day in a row.

Wheat Surges to Record on Supply Concerns; Corn, Soybeans Gain

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
') ``High prices just do not deter demand at the moment,'' said ANZ's Roberts. ``We're seeing Asian buyers lining up.''

The surge in wheat prices so far hasn't led to ``a huge increase in plantings'' in North America and weather in the northern hemisphere summer could still hurt crops, Roberts said.

``Really there is no limit to how high prices can go if we get any weather problems,'' he said.

[nocar]

The rally has not stopped yet, CBT at 10.48 dollars, KCB at 11.10.



$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')heat Rises to Record on Reduced U.S. High-Protein Grain Supply

By Gavin Evans

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat jumped to a record in Chicago as supplies of high-protein varieties used for bread and pasta dwindled in North America.

Most U.S. inventories of hard spring wheat may already be forward sold, analysts said. Stocks of the variety may decline 25 percent from a year earlier to 88 million bushels on May 31, the Department of Agriculture forecast last month. Futures in Chicago, Kansas City and Minneapolis rose the daily trading limit.

``There is a genuine physical shortage'' of higher-grade wheat, Tobin Gorey, commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. said by phone today in Sydney. ``We're in a phase of the market where people just have to buy it and price has stopped being a real consideration.''

Wheat futures for March delivery rose by the 30-cent limit for a fourth straight day, gaining to $10.63 a bushel in after- hours trading on the Chicago Board of Trade. The contract was at $10.47 a bushel at 10:24 a.m. in Tokyo.

[joewp]

And yet another limit up. Buy bread now and put it in the freezer!

Wheat Prices Rise to Records on Depleted Supply of Spring Grain
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')By Tony C. Dreibus

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat surged to record highs on three U.S. futures exchanges as millers and overseas importers faced shortfalls of spring grain, used to make bread and pasta and other food staples.

Spring wheat harvested in September and October was sold in forward contracts by farmers and grain-elevator operators, triggering a shortage of supplies this year, analysts said. Demand has surged for the high-protein grain, and futures in Minneapolis, where spring wheat is traded, have almost tripled in the past year.

``You have to have it,'' said Jon Marcus, president of Lakefront Futures and Options LLC in Chicago. ``You can't say, `Well, we just didn't make any bread today.' You can't just quit your business because prices are too high, though I'm sure there are some people going out of business. You have to buy it.''

Wheat rose 30 cents on the Chicago Board of Trade, the Kansas City Board of Trade and on Minneapolis Grain Exchange. That's the maximum the exchanges allow in a single day.

In Chicago, wheat for March delivery advanced 2.9 percent to a record $10.63 a bushel. Futures have more than doubled in the past year on the CBOT, partly because drought hurt production in Canada and Australia and a freeze, followed by excessive rainfall, curbed yields in the U.S.

Wheat for March delivery in Kansas City jumped 2.8 percent to $11.1025 a bushel, the highest ever. The price has climbed the exchange limit four sessions in a row in Kansas City and Chicago.

In Minneapolis, the March contract rose 2 percent to a record $15.23 a bushel, the first time any U.S. wheat contract has topped $15. The price surged the limit for the 10th time in 11 sessions.

[nocar]

And again a record,

CBT 10.93; KCB 11.40

Business people talk about 'best-performing commodity', when I believe many of the urban poor in developing countries will go around hungry. These poor people will suffer while our global system weans itself from artificially low food prices, which lured them into cities in the first place. Hopefully, they will not be able to make many babies.

nocar

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')ndia's Wheat Imports May Rise 68%, Bolstering Prices (Update3)

By Pratik Parija
Enlarge Image/Details

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Imports of wheat into India, the world's second-largest consumer of the grain, may climb 68 percent this year, supporting prices that are at a record.

Purchases may total 3 million tons in the year starting April 1, Mark Samson, vice president for South Asia at the U.S. Wheat Associates, said in an interview yesterday. The country bought 1.79 million tons last year.

India's wheat output may decline by 1 million tons in the March-April harvest because of dry weather, the farm ministry said yesterday. The forecast comes as wheat, the best-performing commodity this year, climbed to a record on three U.S. future exchanges on concern that supplies will fall short of demand.

[Ferretlover]

We knew that this was one of the things that was going to happen, but to be proved right, yet again...
All things are not equal.

[frankthetank]

Good point, buy now if you think this isn't the end. I'm guessing we'll have to wait until planting time to see what is put in the ground.

Keep going baby. Keep going. I'd like to see the price double or triple yet.

[mistel]

You guys are looking at KCBT wheat. If you really want to see price increases look here at Minnesota spring wheat

http://charts3.barchart.com/chart.asp?s ... g=stk&fix=

Doesn't look too bad on a daily chart.

How about a weekly chart?

http://charts3.barchart.com/chart.asp?v ... K&evnt=adv

Looks pretty frightening.

How about a monthly chart?

http://charts3.barchart.com/chart.asp?j ... K&evnt=adv

That's downright scary!

[Jack]

Interesting charts, Mistel...but I am reminded of sugar back in, what, 1973? The fast runup was followed by an equally rapid crash. Pork bellies did the same thing.

Then again, one can abandon sugar more easily than one can forget about wheat.

[joewp]

Limit on wheat prices raised
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')With wheat prices touching all-time highs, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday took steps to allow the daily limit on price moves to double, to 60 cents a bushel from 30 cents.

Additionally, the limit will rise to 90 cents a bushel on the next day after a 60-cent limit is reached.

The new price limits will take effect Monday.

[mistel]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joewp', '[')url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sat_wheat_0209feb09,0,6375433.story]Limit on wheat prices raised[/url]
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')With wheat prices touching all-time highs, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday took steps to allow the daily limit on price moves to double, to 60 cents a bushel from 30 cents.

Additionally, the limit will rise to 90 cents a bushel on the next day after a 60-cent limit is reached.

The new price limits will take effect Monday.

[nocar]

Well, red wheat seems to be going sky-high, but since it is good practice to maintain the same way of measuring over the same study, here are the new prices of the 'old' type of wheat:

CBT 11.48; KCB 12.00. The latter did the maximum allowable jump.

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/commod ... tures.html

nocar

[Novus]

Spot wheat prices hit $20 and could go even higher.

Simply amazing how quickly this is spiraling out of control. I think we will be talking North American famine of 2008 in short order.

[dorlomin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Novus', 'S')pot wheat prices hit $20 and could go even higher.

Simply amazing how quickly this is spiraling out of control. I think we will be talking North American famine of 2008 in short order.

[dorlomin]

I guess Saudi has enough money to buy food and distribute it at a discounted price, but how many oil producing countries like Nigeria or Venezuala may find alot of domestic unrest from very high food prices?

Not too mention China and India or Pakistan. Pakistan is a powder keg. Hell Iraq will explode if the food price doubles or worse.

[gnm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Novus', 'S')imply amazing how quickly this is spiraling out of control. I think we will be talking North American famine of 2008 in short order.