« Agri » commodities prices to come down in 2013

Major trading houses, gathered in Lausanne for the FT Global Commodity Summit, expect wholesale food prices to come down this year. After a disastrous 2012, due to extreme drought in harvesting countries which resulted in supply shocks and price volatility, 2013 is seen as a promising year. However, since agriculture is dependent on weather conditions, it is too soon to draw any conclusions yet, according to Greg Page, CEO of Cargill.

The summit highlighted different opinions on climate change. For Bunge’s Chief Executive Alberto Weisser, “The climate will change. Indeed, it already has”. Head of CHS Europe Claudio Scarozza reported that previously they “(…) were using the model of one drought every five years” for Russia whereas now we are talking about “one drought every three years”. As far as considering global warming to be responsible for past and current climate change, « This is not something we consider in our day-to-day business (…) », said Chris Mahoney, Head of Agriculture at Glencore…

Source : FT