So now that we have a huge drought scare going, where are all of those critics of free trade who say we need to protect our markets so we can have food security?
Will they acknowledge that there is more food security in free global trade? I doubt it because they operate from emotion, not reason. They are fighting fears about change, they are steeped in national pride and community loyalties and their trusted farm leaders tell them they need to hang on to tradition.
But those who think more clear-headedly about the current drought panic that has driven corn prices to $8 a bushel are buying corn from Brazil.
Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest hog producer and pork packer, says
it’s among those buying corn from Brazil, although so far it hasn’t said how
much.
Paulo Molinari, consultant at Brazil-based Safras e Mercado, said corn
is selling for about $290 US per tonne at Brazilian ports compared with $345 a
tonne for U.S. corn at Gulf ports.
Shipping corn from Brazil to the U.S. costs $30 to $40 per ton.
"There's never been this big of a difference in price,"
Molinari said.
"Brazilian corn is almost always at the same level as in the Gulf
of Mexico, if not higher."
