El Nino Threat Blows Commodity Prices Higher

[chuenjit]

In 1798 Reverend Thomas Malthus published a pamphlet entitled An Essay on the Principle of Population. In it, he argued that population growth would eventually be stopped by a widespread and catastrophic famine as the world could no longer feed all the mouths it contained. It was an apocalyptic doomsday scenario.

The United Nations expects that the world population will hit 7bn in early 2012 – and rise above 9bn by 2050. Despite the technical innovations of the so-called "green revolution" after the Second World War which increased crop yields through fertilisers and large-scale farming, worries still persist that population growth is putting the global food chain under too much pressure. The possibility of a Malthusian catastrophe is once again being discussed.

The most vital factor in food production is the weather. If the sun doesn't shine or the rains don't come then it can spell disaster. Over the last two weeks, meteorologists worldwide have been predicting just that. A weather event that happens once every three to seven years is under way – and weather patterns across the southern hemisphere could be sent into turmoil over the next six months. This has price implications for commodities, but it could be disastrous for people in the poorer parts of the world.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbys...ces-higher.html

Edited July 18, 2009 by raro
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[raro]

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