Commodity Watch for Last Week

From Prudent Bear. the relevant part of a long roundup of market action--here's the relevant bits:

"February 25 – Bloomberg (Tony C. Dreibus): “Rice, the staple food for half the world, rallied… as governments boosted stockpiles to curb prices that sparked protests across North Africa and the Middle East. Bangladesh, South Asia’s biggest buyer, said it’s seeking supply from India as part of more regular grain purchases to bolster food security. Japan bought 68,000 metric tons of rice from the U.S., Australia and Thailand in a tender two days ago. ‘When we go for international tenders and prices suddenly rise, private suppliers sometimes fail to fulfill their commitments,’ Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, the Bangladeshi food minister, said… ‘They don’t supply us and put us in trouble. It has happened.’”

February 25 – Bloomberg (Thomas Kutty Abraham): “Raw sugar prices that reached their highest level in 30 years this month will cause shortages for consumers in the second half, according to Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd., India’s biggest refiner. Processors are shutting factories because they can’t make enough money… The gain is adding to inflation after global food costs climbed to a record in January…” "

Beware of rice and sugar--if you're going to get them, do it NOW and in large quantities...especially the sugar.