April 7, 2008
Rough Rice Runs Roughshod Over Shorts
Rice Run Prompts Curbs to Rival Credit Market Seizure
“Rice, the staple food for half the world, rose 2 percent to a record $20.910 per 100 pounds in Chicago today, double the price a year ago and a fivefold increase from 2001.”
You can see from the weekly chart that a 13 count on the Sequential happened at the end of March. I would expect rice to exhaust itself pretty soon now. Then again, anyone who stands in front of rice may be sliced and diced. I’m a fan of Wasa bread for what it’s worth.
Cat: | Time: 2:48 pm (utc+8)
April 15th, 2008 at 6:34 am
I’ve been reading about the rice crisis all over the place. I wonder if this is politically motivated. I just read an interesting article at fisher-investments.typepad.com that oulines the correlation between political panic and economic crises. Could be a bunch of politicians are actually creating this crisis… you never know.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Serena: I won’t be worried until my precious Wasa bread goes scarce… if it does, then I’ll get violent.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
My precious Wasa just went up to $3.19 from $2.99. My wife’s favorite Starr Ridge crackers are gone, gone, gone–company went out of the cracker business due to high wheat prices.
April 15th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Jim: Bummer. I can’t remember what I pay for Wasa in Beijing, but it’s around $2.99 to $3.19. I’ll check next time I’m in the store and update this comment.
April 19th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Went to Carmel yesterday, about 60 miles north of NYC. ShopRite has WASA for $2.29; bought five. I guess the higher prices I found in NYC are simply typical city prices.
April 19th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Jim: Way to hoard. I suppose Sam’s Club doesn’t stock Wasa? Might be a place to check.
April 19th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
No Sam’s Club in NYC. So far, the neighborhood petits bourgeois have succeeded in beating Walmart back. May be a Walmart in one of the outter bouroughs, but not in Manhattan.
April 19th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Jim: I’ve just returned from the grocery where I was doing some research for some friends who are building a massive short position in Carrefour over this China boycott business… anyway, Wasa bread is RMB19.80 a pack which is US$2.83 (@6.9934).
April 20th, 2008 at 7:29 am
CM, what’s the Carrefour story? i did not hear about the boycott business.
Last summer i was in a middle eatern country and they had just put up a Carrefour store just down the road from where i stayed. The first one in that country and the largest store of its kind. It was jam packed all the time.
I hear the owner is from Abu Dhabi and is loaded beyond description.
is that the same chain you are talking about?
is it publicly traded? please share.
April 20th, 2008 at 11:46 am
CM: do you really think a boycott will last? The Chinese masses move in irrational ways. I think this time they are just happy that the the government is finally letting them protest :)
April 20th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
@Born2: Carrefour is French and yes, it’s listed in Paris (not sure if they have an ADR). The store I frequent here in Beijing (at Shuangjing) is always jam packed. Anyway, there’s some rumor that CA supports the Dalai Lama, no idea if this is accurate, no doubt it’s complete bosh, so the Chinese are organizing a complete boycott for May 1, using text messages and the internet to organize.
@Nik: Not sure if it will last but I think if they can pull off something on May 1 it will be a big deal. I also heard that a complete boycott of all western businesses is planned for June 1, which is a greater concern for me as a MCD shareholder. :-)
April 20th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Thanks, i found the wikipedia page. Turns out the store I visited in the middle-east is a joint venture between the French Carrefour and a United Arab Emirates billionaire, which is why everybody there thinks it is based out of Abu Dhabi.
There is no ADR but it trades OTC, barely, negligible volume.
Good luck with the trade.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Born2: It’s not my kind of trade, I’m just doing a little on the ground “research” for some people. I’m not sure if Carrefour’s operations are wholly-owned in China, I bet they aren’t (probably have a local partner like in Abu Dhabi Doo).