[Sys1]

Rice jumped 30% in ONE day thursday! Hopefully, i've some popcorn left to watch unrest on the net...

http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft ... hoofinance

[Novus]

Some 2.5 Billion Asians aren't going to be to happy about that and they might want some of that popcorn.

[steam_cannon]

I'm ready for the show...

[funzone36]

Combined with peak oil, it's one heck of a storm.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')ice prices have doubled since January, when the grain traded at about $380 a tonne, boosted by strong Asian, Middle Eastern and African demand.

[dorlomin]

[3aidlillahi]

*Runs to closet to defend rice stockpile* (I have a big enough closet to use it to stock foodstuffs)

[joewp]

Hey, relax. The fundamentals don't warrant the current price. It's the speculators and anyway there's lots of new production coming on line this year from deep water and Arctic finds. Saudi Arabia's going to increase their rice capacity to 12.5 million bushels a day by next year, and the market is well-supplied since US inventories are fine.

Or something like that...

[patience]

A lot of things are accelerating to the downside. Ten years back, I read that warming would devastate the tropical rice crop, because the plant is near the top of it's heat tolerance level there. Add a bit of sea rise in the river deltas where a lot of rice is grown, and you have a major refugee problem in a hurry. If the warming and sea rise are accelerating, those people are screwed.

RE: the thread on 1970's, 30's, and 1890's, That could happen sooner than we might think, when you stir in a global depression, and a crop failure here and there. Problem is, all the negative factors can very soon begin to aggravate each other, and down the chute we go. Yuk.

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', 'W')ould I be too much of an "alarmist" if I said that this little
development scares the crap completely out of me?

[Gandalf_the_White]

I thought those markets were moderated? Nice work, 30% in one day. It must be because the Chinese Communist Party hinted at using saaki for fuel. Putin tried to tell them it was a net energy loser but once they have their minds made up it's Tianneman or bust.

[anarky321]

good

they deserve it

let the dieoff begin

[Tanada]

Nah its simple really, we feed the Corn to the SUV and the Rice to the pigs and then the people who want to eat have to pony up more cash.

[Cerryl]

Oh gee, it looks like Malthus was right after all...

[anarky321]

by the end of the century "Malthusian Revenge" is going to be a commonplace phrase

[cube]

According to UN demographic studies the world will hit "peak population" in 2050.

Perhaps right now is a good time to make a "small" revision to those numbers--->2040 perhaps?

[anarky321]

im more interested in what the decline rate will be

[Zardoz]

Of course, it's all just an academic exercise for us First Worlders, right? Somebody else will be starving to death, not us. It can't happen here. It'll just happen to those dumb Third Worlders, and it'll serve them right for having those high birth rates, after all.

We'll do a lot of sympathetic head-shaking as we look down upon the famished masses, and the more sociopathic among us will make a few nasty comments, but it won't happen here. We'll pay a bit more, but there'll always be plenty for us to eat, right?

No matter what happens, we'll be okay. It can't happen here, right?

Right?

[anarky321]

im sure the most sociopathic of us cant wait until it does happen here

personally i dont have that kind of patience so im moving to a 3rd world country

Viva La Dieoff

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('anarky321', 'p')ersonally i dont have that kind of patience so im moving to a 3rd world country

Viva La Dieoff