tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405345292513335071.post3092428577127466670..comments2024-03-19T18:44:15.041+08:00Comments on Little Stories: Food Price Inflation - The Next New Global ThemeGilbert Koh aka Mr Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01027678080233274309noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405345292513335071.post-82075348142766185432011-01-12T22:47:51.015+08:002011-01-12T22:47:51.015+08:00Yes, QE prints money and flood economies with mass...Yes, QE prints money and flood economies with massive liquidity. These money gets hot and goes round the world chasing just about anything for returns. Portuguese 10 year bonds went for 6.71% how is that for returns/yield? <br /><br />Surely commodities have a speculative side of it, however when it comes to food, we all have to eat one way or another. Soft commodities like grains are also vulnerable to weather. In the case of Singapore, we import everything and hence part importing inflation along with it. <br /><br />Expect smaller packaging and/or reduced portions together with price hikes from now on.pockaroohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15517545666474653043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405345292513335071.post-39244494901357230552011-01-10T14:00:54.433+08:002011-01-10T14:00:54.433+08:00Anon January 7, 2011 3:02 PM, our reserves are ver...Anon January 7, 2011 3:02 PM, our reserves are very vulnerable as significant amount of them are in US dollars which over the next five years are expected to depreciate significantly( although rally in short term is not impossible).<br /><br />Although i think that agriculture commodities are being flooded with hot money leading to food price increase, the effect is only short term except if a country suffers hyperinflation. The real rise in food inflation over the long term for the coming decade is probably due to supply and demand issues which are also affected by energy issues.jamesneonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405345292513335071.post-3873744205465425992011-01-10T09:55:02.286+08:002011-01-10T09:55:02.286+08:00Yes. World Governments should have taken action to...Yes. World Governments should have taken action to stop hedge funds et al taking spots in essential commodities like oil, rice, wheat, sugar, cauing non-demand related price inflatrions, which do drive social unrest or worse consequences.<br /><br />Nobody understood why oil price went well over USD100 2-3 years ago despite China using mostly coal and not oil in its economic bull run. It was the money flow.<br /><br />I put my money into commodity companies just before Christmas. Because after anlaysing that excess money (trillions of) from US and Europe "save thyself" policies will flood world food markets when eyes are on stock, properties.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405345292513335071.post-7710351738767602532011-01-09T16:54:54.633+08:002011-01-09T16:54:54.633+08:00Food price inflation in Singapore seems larger tha...Food price inflation in Singapore seems larger than officially tagged. That is my personal opinion when doing marketing and eating at hawker centres. <br /><br />The trend is that when they upgrade a hawker centre, the rental goes up and the hawkers take the cue and increase their prices. <br /><br />Not by ten or twenty cents, but by 25% or more! Everyone benefits except the poor customers.<br /><br />No wonder the Government, the renovation contractors, and the hawkers love upgrading!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405345292513335071.post-17738100577727209232011-01-08T00:44:05.159+08:002011-01-08T00:44:05.159+08:00"One of the causes of inflation is excessive ...<i>"One of the causes of inflation is excessive printing of paper money.<br />This will increase demand of goods and drive up the prices of goods at the same time."</i><br /><br />That is probably not true in this case. The two are correlated but it is usually the other way round. When demand goes up, you need to more money to pay for stuff. So, the banks issue more loans and the government issues more currency. <br /><br />Note that when we had a recession in the late 90's in Singapore, prices went down and the total money supply correspondingly fell. <br /><br />Food prices are bound to rise because of the increasing affluence of China. High food prices are not necessarily bad for countries that are net exporters, like the US, Vietnam and Brazil.Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04726805279916950590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405345292513335071.post-26421460100974727392011-01-07T21:54:32.002+08:002011-01-07T21:54:32.002+08:00One of the causes of inflation is excessive printi...One of the causes of inflation is excessive printing of paper money.<br />This will increase demand of goods and drive up the prices of goods at the same time.SG Girl Next Doorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07914940822874034943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405345292513335071.post-89018073200559552432011-01-07T15:02:07.584+08:002011-01-07T15:02:07.584+08:00But no matter what, Singapore will still be peacef...But no matter what, Singapore will still be peaceful and stable, right? Even though we don't produce a single grain.<br /><br />Because we have lots of reserves (money) to buy all the food we need.<br /><br />After all, as Mr Wang had rightly pointed out, it's all about money.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405345292513335071.post-18723787814096584562011-01-07T13:14:53.276+08:002011-01-07T13:14:53.276+08:00Basically, it looks like there is this big bulge i...Basically, it looks like there is this big bulge in the giant balloon called the "world economy". You squeeze the bulge in one place, and a new one emerges in another part of the balloon. So, when the dotcom frenzy was on, the money went there. Earlier, when East Asian economies were hot, the money washed into Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. On both occasions, something happened and the bulge was squeezed in. The money men shifted the bulge elsewhere, but left an economic mess behind at the place that had been the darling just before. In many ways, Malaysia and Silicon Valley have not fully recovered from the aftershock of the squeeze. Heck, even Japan for that matter hasn't recovered from 1989. But the 'excess' money that caused all this carnage continues to float from one computer to another across the globe.veiihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14598971642406599820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4405345292513335071.post-17559149281083328382011-01-07T11:02:08.308+08:002011-01-07T11:02:08.308+08:00With QEs all the rage among developed countries to...With QEs all the rage among developed countries to bail out their failing economies, the money is now leaking into commodity market and creating real havoc (where lives are at stake.) Speaking of unintended consequences...Amusednoreply@blogger.com