Link: Days of cheap food are over, say suppliers as ingredient costs soar | | Guardian Unlimited Business.
"The company said the recent abnormal weather patters and impact of global warming was not, as yet, a discernible factor. "There have been poor harvests - but we've had poor harvests before and you'd have to get an awful lot of them before you could say something has fundamentally changed," Mr Schofield said.
"Demand from the far east and the trend toward biofuels were driving up carbohydrates around the world. "We can't see, from where we are sitting, that these sorts of pressure are going to go away, so this is not a blip ... If you're buying pasta in Italy it has gone up 25%; if you're buying tortillas in Mexico it's gone up; if you're buying bread in the UK and Europe it has gone up." There was a knock-on impact on livestock, milk and glucose prices, he added...."
(((Wind from nowhere sears Australian wheat crop:)))
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/44175/story.htm
(((Can the Australian wine business survive?)))
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/44154/story.htm
