今日时报:Floods hit food price hopes预计全球食品价格可能继续上扬
金融时报(6.17)中日接近达成东海天然气共同开发协议
Consumers were yesterday warned to expect even sharper increases in global food prices after US officials said that some of the country's best farmland is facing its worst flooding for 15 years.
Agricultural officials and traders said the damage could push up worldwide corn and soyabean prices, which have spiralled in recent days as floods have swamped crops in parts of Iowa, the US's biggest corn-producing state.
The warning comes at a time when high food prices are already sparking protests across the developing world.
Corn futures in Chicago this week rose to record highs of more than $8 a bushel on fears that up to 5m acres of the crop could be lost, while soyabean prices hit a record of $15.93 a bushel.
Tom Jennings, acting director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, said: “The price of corn and the price of beans could rise more. If we lose a lot of corn the prices will continue to go up.”
The increase in the cost of corn and soyabeans – the two main feed crops for farm animals such as cows and chickens – increased the price of live cattle yesterday for the second day in a row, to the highest level in 22 years.
Mr Jennings said that the impact of the heavy rains was “dramatic”.
“According to the emergency reports I'm getting, we're above what happened in 1993 but we'll have to see how that tapers off as [the rain water] comes down the river,” he told the Financial Times.
The Mississippi River broke through its levee system in 1993, destroying about 1m acres of crops and causing $20bn of damage.
Lewis Hagedorn, of JP Morgan in Chicago, said that the losses were significant.
“The risk of still-higher agricultural prices remains decisively distributed to the upside amid the fundamental need to ration demand in light of smaller supply,” he said.
预计全球食品价格将出现更为陡峭的上涨，这是消费者昨日得到的警告。此前美国官员表示，美国一些最好的农田正面对15年来最严重的洪水。
农业官员和交易员都表示，洪水造成的损害，有可能推高全球玉米和大豆价格。近日，随着洪水淹没美国玉米产量最高的州——艾奥瓦州部分地区的农作物，全球玉米和大豆价格均已飙升。
发出这一警告之际，食品价格高企已经在不少第三世界国家引发抗议。
芝加哥玉米期货本周涨至每蒲式耳逾8美元的创纪录高位，原因是人们担心，至多500万英亩的玉米可能损失。同时，大豆价格涨至每蒲式耳15.93美元的创纪录高点。
伊利诺斯州农业厅代理厅长汤姆·杰宁斯(Tom Jennings)表示：“玉米和豆类的价格都可能进一步上涨。如果我们损失大量玉米作物，价格还将继续走高。”
玉米和大豆都是牛、鸡等牲畜的主要饲料。这两种农作物的价格上涨，昨日连续第二天推高活牛价格，使其达到22年来最高水平。
杰宁斯称，近日大雨的冲击是“戏剧性的”。
他告诉英国《金融时报》，“根据我正在得到的紧急报告，我们的应对状况比1993年要好，但随着(雨水)顺流而下，我们还要关注后续局势。”
1993年，密西西比河冲垮堤坝系统，损毁约100万英亩农作物，造成200亿美元损失。
芝加哥摩根大通(JP Morgan)的路易斯·哈格多恩(Lewis Hagedorn)表示，目前的损失严重。
“面对供应减少，配给需求成了根本需要，在这种情况下，农产品价格进一步升高的上行风险肯定更大，”他表示。
By Hal Weitzman in Pike County, Illinois and Javier Blas in London
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
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对于近期广东的强降雨，带来的损失也是惨重。我来自广东，我亲身体验到大水的可怕。