AN INDEX of major crops wiped out its 2024 loss as bad weather stokes worries about harvests from wheat to coffee, reviving concerns about rising food prices.
Droughts, frosts and heavy rain are popping up across key growers, threatening tighter supplies and lifting the cost of agricultural staples. A Bloomberg gauge tracking nine farm commodities has turned higher on the year and is headed for the largest weekly gain since July.
While the measure remains far from its 2022 peak, the gains could eventually spell higher consumer prices from bread to beverages after a period of subdued inflation in the grocery aisle. Climate change and geopolitical concerns are likely to keep crop prices elevated, said Paul Bloxham, HSBC Holdings’s chief economist for global commodities.
Chicago wheat futures on Friday (May 24) traded near the highest since July as poor weather in major exporters from Australia to Russia raises concerns over supplies.
Deteriorating harvest prospects in top shipper Russia have fuelled the gains, with more downgrades likely in the next couple of weeks, Dennis Voznesenski, associate director of sustainable and agricultural economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a weekly report.
Arabica coffee prices – another component of the index – are headed for the biggest weekly gain since April. Orange juice is near a record on the back of a sinking Brazilian harvest, and weather woes have also lifted benchmark Asian rice prices to the cusp of a 15-year high.
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Cocoa futures in New York are poised for a weekly gain of almost 10 per cent. Futures have resumed a rally due to falling bean inventories in exchange-monitored warehouses amid uncertainty over next season’s crop.
Prices are expected to remain high throughout the current season’s mid-crop, supported by the market fundamentals, the International Cocoa Organization said in a report on Wednesday. BLOOMBERG
