Lately, about 37 countries in the world have been suffering from increasing food prices. I don't think that this increase in price would matter as much if peoples salaries were also increasing, but they're not. People are continually finding it harder to buy staple foods, like miso in Japan, pasta in Italy, and butter in France. Although this isn't really hurting Japan, Italy, and France in a major way (yet), there are poorer countries that are definitely suffering. In Egypt, someone died in a fight over a loaf of bread. Even though that may sound ridiculous, its the result of an increase in the price of food. The chairwoman of China equities for JP Morgan said that the "cause of the problem is a supply-demand imbalance. Demand is very strong. Supply is constrained."
This whole situtation reminds me of the oil crisis going on in the world right now. Here in the U.S., we have seen gas prices skyrocket. And although I haven't really noticed a raise in the cost of food (probably because I'm not paying for my families groceries each week), I'm afraid that it's going to hit us soon or maybe it has already started.
1 comment:
Another aspect to the rising food prices is the increase in demand. When the population increases, as it is now, there will inevitably be an increase in demand. However, this is causing food shortages which may contribute to the rising prices. Not only can people not pay for the food their families need to survive, there isn't enough food to feed everyone.
Post a Comment