WSJ: Drought Overseas Boosts U.S. Wheat Export Sales, Prices

How long till the food prices go so high in the U.S. that people can't feed themselves? Food riots may not happen here in the U.S. but I can guarantee that they will happen in the poorer nations that currently ship their surplus crops overseas to the rich nations such as the U.S. When those riots occur do you think any government will allow its people to starve while we in America get fatter. I think not.

The Chinese clearly understand these issues and have been using their new found wealth to buy up cheap land in Africa to farm.(The Atlantic: The Next Empire) The Chinese understand that with a growing population the greatest threat to their internal security is food or the lack there of.

Wars have been fought over land since the beginning of time the 21st Century will be no different.

WSJ: Drought Overseas Boosts U.S. Wheat Export Sales, Prices
By TOM POLANSEK

CHICAGO—U.S. wheat export sales were double what some analysts had forecast, yet another sign that global supplies are tightening.

Growers in the U.S., the world's biggest exporter, last week struck deals to export 919,900 tons of the golden grain, according to the latest data issued Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That topped estimates ranging from 250,000 to 450,000 tons.

U.S. wheat prices have surged nearly 49% from a nine-month low in June to Thursday's session high as a severe drought has hit the grain belts of the former Soviet Union, which in recent years has emerged as a force in the world grain trade. Nearby September wheat rose 12 cents, or 1.9%, to $6.2750 a bushel after hitting an eight-month intraday high of $6.32 on the Chicago Board of Trade. European wheat prices were near two-year highs.

The International Grains Council was the latest organization to cut world wheat-production estimates, revising an earlier forecast downward by 1.9% to 651 million metric tons for the 2010-11 marketing year, which began June 1.