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Future food; We can grow enough, but how will we distribute it?

When we talk about the future of food, we usually start with world population growth. Estimates say we’ll pass the 8 billion-people mark around the spring of 2024. The worry for decades has been if we will be able to feed all those hungry mouths. The number of hungry mouths may not be the problem. A 2002 United Nations study showed that global agricultural production would exceed the population’s needs just six years after we hit the 8 billion mark. How we distribute and sell food in the future could be far more important – and more interesting.      Moving it “Oil isn’t cheap,” Katie Camden says when asked about the future of food distribution. “Plus, over the next 10 to 20 years, it’s not going to get any cheaper.”   Camden started her career in neuroscience, but then she moved into the food business. She and her husband, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Futures Gain in Asian Trade Ahead of Weekly Inventories

Crude-oil futures rose in Asian trading hours on Wednesday ahead of a weekly U.S. oil inventory report and after news the U.S. had granted crude-oil-export licenses. On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $97.65 a barrel at 0548 GMT–up $0.46 in the Globex electronic session. March Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.23 to $106.01 a barrel. Nymex WTI crude extended gains while Brent rebounded after settling at its lowest this year in overnight floor trade–narrowing the Brent-WTI spread to around $8.28 a barrel. U.S. oil stocks rose by 384,000 barrels in the week ended Jan. 31, data from the American Petroleum Institute trade group showed late on Tuesday. The more closely watched data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due later on Wednesday. U.S. oil stocks likely rose by 2.2 million barrels on […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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WTI Rises a Second Day as U.S. Freeze Seen Curbing Supply

West Texas Intermediate crude rose for a second day following speculation a U.S. government report will show distillate inventories fell amid colder weather in the country, the world’s biggest oil consumer. Futures climbed as much as 0.9 percent in New York . Distillate supplies , including heating oil and diesel, probably shrank by 2.5 million barrels to 113.7 million last week, according to a Bloomberg News survey before data from the Energy Information Administration today. An industry report yesterday showed stockpiles dropped 1.46 million. A second winter storm this week is moving into the U.S. Northeast. “The U.S. winter is keeping levels high because of the increase in demand,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S in Copenhagen, said by phone. “There are still some very chilly places. Once we get the winter behind us I’m looking for prices to drift lower as milder weather approaches.” […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. Oil Prices Climb as Possible Cushing Supply Declines Take Center Stage

U.S. oil prices pushed higher Tuesday as traders bet that the opening of a new pipeline would begin to drain crude stockpiles at a key storage hub, while another cold spell is expected to further tighten heating-oil supplies. Meanwhile, Brent futures fell to a three-month low as traders worried weak economic data could weigh on global crude demand. Light, sweet crude for March delivery climbed 76 cents, or 0.8%, to $97.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Nymex crude rebounded from a 1.1% loss in Monday’s session and rose for the first time in three trading days. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural-gas futures jumped nearly 10% Tuesday

Natural-gas futures jumped nearly 10% Tuesday on expectations another wave of colder-than-average weather will generate even more demand for the heating fuel. Households across the Midwest and Northeast have consumed record amounts of natural gas this year amid frigid temperatures. Forecasters are calling for cold weather to persist through mid-February, with some predicting below-normal temperatures into March. The resulting spike in heating demand has revived the formerly sleepy gas market, sending investors scrambling to exit from bets that prices would stay low and into new wagers that futures will rally further. On Tuesday, natural gas for March delivery shot up 9.6%, to $5.375 a million British thermal units. Futures are within striking distance of a four-year high of $5.557 set last Wednesday. Traders and analysts say it is a return to traditional trading patterns for a commodity that was known for big price moves before a surge in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural-Gas Prices Surge on Frigid Weather Forecasts

Natural gas surged Tuesday on expectations that another bout of widespread colder-than-average weather in the next two weeks would sustain high demand for the heating fuel. Natural gas for March delivery settled up 47 cents at $5.375 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Frigid weather this winter has sent natural-gas prices soaring and restored large one-day price swings to the volatile market, which has been subdued by high supplies in recent years. Tuesday’s 9.6% price gain only brought prices to their highest level since Wednesday, when futures hit a four-year high of $5.557/mmBtu. Updated weather forecasts Monday night and Tuesday called for unusually cold weather in the first two weeks of February to extend […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Turnabout on Global Outlook Darkens Investor Mood

A series of sudden, unfavorable events has in just a matter of weeks changed bright optimism about the pace of growth in the global economy this year to a deepening sense of doubt. The warning signs are plentiful: Tumbling stock prices around the world, disappointing economic reports in the U.S. and China, hasty interest-rate increases in major developing countries including Turkey, India and South Africa, and whispers of disappointment in corporate earnings conference calls. They are combining to send a signal that the global economy might not be on the strong footing it appeared to be at the start of 2014. Another closely watched indicator will arrive Friday, when the Labor Department releases its estimate of U.S. job growth in January. Still, that report, like other recent U.S. releases, could offer murky guidance due to quirks related to bad winter weather, only adding to uncertainty about the outlook. Investors […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Libya says bandits disrupt oil from Sharara field

Libyan oil industry officials said bandits caused production from the Sharara oil field to drop by 40 percent by blocking a pipeline to downstream facilities. Field manager Hassan al-Sideek said bandits forced a valve to close from Sharara, blocking 40 percent of the delivery of crude oil to the Zawia oil refinery and terminal, the Libya Herald reported Monday. Operations at Sharara, in the western Libyan desert, were shuttered in October by regional protesters calling for more local authority. The field has the capacity to produce 350,000 barrels of oil per day. In January, Libyan Oil Minister Abdelbari al-Arusi said the restart of the Sharara oil field in the west of the country had contributed to recent production gains. Maintenance crews were told by gunmen near the pipeline the rebels would only speak with government officials. "We don’t know what they want," a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Four bombs hit central Baghdad, killing 13

Four bombs struck near Baghdad’s heavily-fortified "Green Zone" and a busy square in the center of the capital on Wednesday, killing at least 13 people, security sources said. The blasts came a day after two rockets were fired into the Green Zone, home to the prime minister’s office and Western embassies, and are likely to heighten concerns about Iraq’s ability to protect strategic sites as security deteriorates. On Wednesday, security sources said two parked car bombs were detonated opposite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, killing five people. The Interior Ministry said in a statement the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who blew himself up as he was being searched. The other car was driven by a suicide bomber who blew himself and the vehicle up outside a restaurant close to a checkpoint one street away from the Green Zone, killing four people, the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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India can't yet use Turkish banks to pay for Iranian oil

Turkish Trade Minister Nihat Zeybecki said the mechanisms aren’t yet in place to help process payments from India for Iranian crude oil. The European Union in January lifted restrictions on insurance and transport of Iranian crude oil. The decision was made in response to Iran’s decision to suspend some nuclear research activity according to the terms of an interim deal reached last year with Western powers. Zeybecki told Indian newspaper the Hindu his country was acting in line with existing embargoes and couldn’t help India with its payments for Iranian crude oil. "When we talk about embargoes, we can see that there is a bit of relaxation or opening in the embargoes," he said in an interview published Monday. "But, currently the normal procedures are ongoing." India was routing about half of its payments for Iranian crude oil through Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank, but […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple