Pasta lovers must brace to pay even higher prices for their favorite dish, as drought in Canada and bad weather in Europe damages crops of durum wheat and reduces supplies available to flour millers and food companies.
On top of that, corn’s been pretty expensive lately too
Corn was expensive when it was looking like the drought in the corn belt was going to destroy the crop, but the rains came at the right time and the price came tumbling down after. Local cash bids were up to $9.80 just last month. Now we’re looking at $6.38. That’s a huge drop. The Chicago price isn’t even $5 anymore.
due to the US redirecting so much of it into biofuel.
Not really. Biofuels shy away pretty quickly when the price goes up. There isn’t much inelasticity there like there is among food buyers. Corn has been driven by that derecho a couple years back wiping out a lot the crop, coupled with European fertilizer plant shutdowns just before Russia invaded Ukraine – which also impacted access to Russian fertilizer, along with those drought fears this year.
That said, given the rest of the comment, I get the feeling that you are actually talking about sweet corn rather than corn? Sweet corn is not directed to biofuel. It’s more like $30 per bushel instead of $5. Biofuel flat out couldn’t afford it, even if it wanted.
Corn was expensive when it was looking like the drought in the corn belt was going to destroy the crop, but the rains came at the right time and the price came tumbling down after. Local cash bids were up to $9.80 just last month. Now we’re looking at $6.38. That’s a huge drop. The Chicago price isn’t even $5 anymore.
Not really. Biofuels shy away pretty quickly when the price goes up. There isn’t much inelasticity there like there is among food buyers. Corn has been driven by that derecho a couple years back wiping out a lot the crop, coupled with European fertilizer plant shutdowns just before Russia invaded Ukraine – which also impacted access to Russian fertilizer, along with those drought fears this year.
That said, given the rest of the comment, I get the feeling that you are actually talking about sweet corn rather than corn? Sweet corn is not directed to biofuel. It’s more like $30 per bushel instead of $5. Biofuel flat out couldn’t afford it, even if it wanted.