Drought in the US farm belt may result in higher prices for poor people around the world, according to the head of an agricultural think tank who on Monday also recommended a halt to ethanol production from corn.
Shenggen Fan, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), said the 2008 global spike in food prices showed how poor crops and tight supplies have a wide impact. The IFPRI is the analytical arm of a coalition of agricultural research facilities.
Fan suggested six steps to rein in costs and head off out-of-control prices caused by this year’s drought.
More than 60 percent of the continental US, including prime grain territory, is under moderate to exceptional drought. The Agriculture Department was scheduled to make its first estimate of the fall harvest on Friday. Some private analysts say the corn crop could be the smallest in a decade.
“Food crop demand for biofuels, particularly in the US and EU must be cut substantially, as should mandates for ethanol content in fuel, to help relieve the pressures on both domestic and global food markets,” Fan said in a release.
Ethanol production accounts for about 40 percent of the US corn crop.
He also urged nations to avoid export bans, to be ready to use their stockpiles to address food emergencies and continued aid to expand food production in developing countries.
World food prices have fallen for the past three months and are 15.4 percent below the record set in February last year on a price index calculated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO was scheduled to update the index on Thursday.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last