Rising prosperity in Asia and Latin America is driving price for Canadian wheat to their highest levels in 30 year, according to the Globe & Mail. Biofuels have been blamed for the spike.
The USDA’s chief economist blasted the Washington Post at the National Farmers Union meeting over an article connecting high wheat prices to ethanol demand. He said the spike in wheat prices had nothing to do with ethanol; that the 2007 wheat crop was planted before corn prices spiked, and that the price increases is the result of low wheat harvest yields in Canada, the Ukraine, Australia and the European Union.
Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, said that linking biofuel crop demand and higher commodity prices was only speculation at this stage. He said that further study would be required to firmly establish such a linkage, noting that it is not likely that biofuel demand is responsible for the increase in Italian pasta or Mexican tortilla prices.
The Associated Press ran a round-up on the source of food price increases, credited by Iowa State agricultural scientist to international demand for American livestock and feed, fueled in turn by risi...
Luis Alberto Moreno, the President of the Inter-American Development Bank, speaking at the Americas Conference in Miami, said "there is no region that can gain more from biofuels than Latin America an...
Husky Energy said that rising wheat prices had forced the company to switch feedstock at its Minnedosa plant in western Manitoba to corn. The company said that corn now accounted for up up to 75 perce...
In Europe, the price of wheat rose to a record $370.55 per metric ton, putting pressure on European ethanol profitability. Wheat-producing areas of Europe experienced drought in the spring and heavy r...
In Colombia, Oilsource Holding Group has formed a joint venture with Abundant Biofuels to produce jatropha-based biodiesel in Colombia. The joint venture plans to plant 100,000 hectares with jatropha ...
In Canada, the 55 Mgy Terra Grains wheat ethanol plant opened in Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan. The plant, which is the largest wheat ethanol project in North America, will also produce 160,000 metric to...
