Meat pies are going up, according to Futuris Corporation. Futuris CEO Les Wozniczka told his annual general meeting yesterday that, "Given the price rises we have seen globally in input costs such as fuel, energy, fertiliser, labour and interest rates, we are expecting a major readjustment in food prices."
He had more good news. "We have already seen significant increases in commodity prices for dairy products and grains, but we have yet to see the flow-on effects to livestock, meat products, eggs... Prepare yourselves for some serious inflation in your cost of living, because, globally, we are seeing pricing power starting to return to farmers."
"World getting fatter," reports John von Radowitz in today's Daily Telegraph. "Two out of five men and almost a third of women around the world are now overweight, a major population study has shown," he continues. "Almost a quarter of men and 27 per cent of women are fat enough to be considered obese."
Something has to give. You can't have rising food prices AND infinitely expanding waistlines. They are mutually exclusive. In the coming years, either food will be a lot more expensive and people will eat fewer calories per day, or all pants will come with elastic in the waistband. Or perhaps we will all just wear sweatpants.
Seriously, do you ever get the feeling that the last 50 years have been one long orgy of consumption and excess in the Western World? Cheap credit and cheap energy have combined to offer people more calories, more comfort, and more cheap crap than ever before.
But now the era of cheap credit and cheap energy is over. Calories are getting more expensive. So is energy. And credit itself is shuffling in to a long term bear market. What will people do?
Dan Denning
The Daily Reckoning Australia
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About the Author
Dan Denning is the author of 2005's best-selling The Bull Hunter (John Wiley & Sons). He began his financial publishing career in 1997 and has covered financial markets form Baltimore, Paris, London and, beginning in 2005 Melbourne. He’s the editor of The Daily Reckoning Australia and the Publisher of Port Phillip Publishing.
Comment by DailyReader on 24 October 2007:
I would have thought people would get fatter. People will downgrade their dining habits. Instead of proper restaurants with small portion of meat and salad they will turn to places like Sofias where you can get a high in calorie mega pasta or supersize pizza for the price of a happy meal...
Comment by Rocky on 24 October 2007:
Unfortunately calories are not getting more expensive; the cheapest foods have the highest calorific value, I.e. fast food, soft drinks, and other rubbish. It would be nice to think that one of the positives of the widening of credit spreads was the shortening of waistlines; unfortunately the only people having to tighten their belts are a few former hot shot hedge fundies who were playing the positive carry game.
Comment by nic meredith on 25 October 2007:
Well it might not be very popular on Wall Street but, we've got a big vegetable patch....not only saves money, gives you exercise and peaceful reflection ........it tastes fresher and better than any fiat currency ever could buy....anywhere!
Comment by Li on 25 October 2007:
"the cheapest foods have the highest calorific value"
Undeniably true, but I think Dan may still have a point. There is some sort of connection, if only analogical, between the balance of production and consumption, which makes for sustainable economies, and a balance between taking care of one's health and using that as a basis for the sake of sensual gratification, which makes for a fuller life.
Does that sound too nuts?
Comment by Edward Metcalfe on 1 February 2008:
I hear about food prices all the time. I've just finished a month of being on my own and buying all the food I have eaten.
Quite frankly I really don't see a problem with the price of it. It's dirt cheap as far as I'm concerned. Whether that will continue is another issue but right now I think its cheap.