Record snow brings inflation to China

I guess China didn't get our memo on global warming:



LINK

China Storms Kill 129, Economic Loss at $21 Billion

By Wing-Gar Cheng

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- China's worst snowstorms in five decades caused 151.7 billion yuan ($21 billion) in direct economic losses and killed 129 people, with four still missing.

Blizzards, ice and freezing temperatures since January have forced the evacuation of 1.66 million people and collapsed 485,000 houses, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo.

The worst snowstorms since 1954 swept across China's southern provinces of Guangdong, Hunan, Guizhou and Jiangxi, where sub-zero temperatures are rare, shutting rail, road and air routes.
China's inflation accelerated in January as the snowstorms disrupted food supplies.

``The effects of the snowstorms on prices are still trickling down into the economy,'' Wang Tao, head of Greater China economics and strategy at Bank of America Corp. in Beijing, said in a telephone interview today. ``The storms disrupted supplies of food and products.
Inflation numbers may rise for February and March.''

Edited by Rogerdodger, 23 February 2008 - 04:38 PM.

A guy on Bloomberg just said that the world's grain stocks are at a record low with only 1.4 months of supply.

This is in contrast to a record grain harvest! LINK
Don't let there be any crop failures this year!

I wonder if we can turn oil into corn?

LINK

Grain stockpiles seen hitting a low
From the Associated Press February 13, 2008
Cereal grain stockpiles are expected to hit their lowest level in more than two decades, helping to keep prices high, a United Nations food agency said.

The low stocks combined with continued strong demand, also driven by the growing biofuels industry, to keep prices elevated, the Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report to be released today.

By the close of the current season, stocks are expected to fall to 405 million tons -- down 22 million tons, or 5%, from the start of the season. It would be the lowest level since 1982.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 23 February 2008 - 05:06 PM.

I wonder if we can turn oil into corn?

LINK
Virgin flies biofueled jet from London

Millions face hunger as world food supply shrinks!
(I added that part)

LONDON (AP) -- Virgin Atlantic carried out the world's first flight of a commercial aircraft powered with biofuel on Sunday in an effort to show it can produce less carbon dioxide than normal jet fuels. Some analysts praised the jumbo jet test flight from London to Amsterdam as a potentially useful experiment. But others criticized it as a publicity stunt and noted scientists are questioning the environmental benefits of biofuels.

"But there are a lot of unanswered questions about the usefulness of biofuels in the battle against global warming," he said.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 24 February 2008 - 11:29 AM.

I guess China didn't get our memo on global warming:

Nope...neither has anyone else it would seem. "The New Ice Age" ?

It's also of interest that 1966 was used as the reference point for the Global "Cooling" rhetoric heard in the early 1970's that eventually led to "Earth Day".

The play is always the same, only the cast of characters change over time.

Fib