The headlines, from all across the world, are the same.
From Japan:
With the central government planning to raise the price of imported wheat by 30 percent in April--the third and largest hike since last year--price hikes by flour mills also are expected, which in turn will cause food companies to raise prices.
With flour a major ingredient in many foods, the expected price hikes are likely to seriously affect households.
...
"The 30 percent hike will be very severe for us," said an employee of a major flour milling firm that commissioned the cargo discharge by a trading firm. "Our industry won't be able to survive unless consumers understand price hikes.
India:
Wheat dara prices hardened by Rs 15 to Rs 20 a quintal in the wholesale grains market on Friday following fresh buying by rolling flour mills along with insufficient ready stocks position.
Marketmen said heavy buying by stockists and rolling flour mills in view of ongoing marriage season, caused the rise in wheat price.
Wheat dara prices climbed up by Rs 15 to Rs 20 at Rs 1,150-1,160 a quintal, while wheat mp remained quiet on some support at Rs 1,350-1,600 a quintal.
South Africa:
Record high South African wheat prices have fuelled fears that the country could be facing another wave of food price hikes, only a couple of months after sharp bread price increases triggered a national outcry.
Local millers say they are likely to enforce some price increases because of the rise in wheat futures. The increases were also likely to be factored in by retailers in their prices.
South Africa produced only 1.84 million tonnes of wheat last year despite consumption being about 2.8 million tonnes a year.
Eastern Europe:
"The inflation drivers in central and eastern Europe are similar to elsewhere, a food-price shock and oil prices doubling in a year," said Miroslav Plojhar, an emerging market economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in London. "Eastern Europe is more vulnerable, though, because economies are growing much faster."
Record global prices for crude oil and food, including wheat, soybeans and corn, sparked price growth around the world. Eastern European nations are particularly concerned because they need to cap inflation to meet a requirement to adopt the euro. Their citizens, with average monthly wages as low as $600, also spend a larger portion of their income on food and energy.
Western Europe:
Troubled Hovis bread and Mr Kipling cake maker Premier Foods has plunged into the red because of the soaring cost of raw materials, especially wheat.
The UK's biggest food producer made a pre-tax loss of £73.5m last year, compared to a pre-tax profit of £59m in 2006.
Most of the losses came in the second half off the year as Premier and others in the industry were hit with what it calls "exceptional" hikes in the cost of its ingredients.
Here in the U.S., the story is no different, with exploding wheat flour prices putting pressure on domestic bakeries and food manufacturers.
Check out this story, where a Minnesota baker explains that the bag of flour that cost her $13 a year ago now costs $50.
A bakers’ trade association has become so concerned that it’s organized a march on Washington later this month.
Minneapolis shook the commodity world when a trader paid $25 a bushel for the high-protein hard red spring wheat that trades exclusively in Minneapolis and constitutes the main ingredient found in most breads, muffins and pizza crusts. That's about five times the price of wheat a year ago, a run-up mostly blamed on thin supplies and widespread speculation from fund managers.
Schurman said she’s raised prices 8 cents per loaf after her costs climbed from $33 per hundred pounds of unbagged flour to $45 to $50. A year ago she paid $12.65. With egg and shortening costs also up, she’s expecting to raise prices 25 percent overall.
A twenty-five percent hike in prices for baked goods! (Of course, price increases like these are not included in our inflation numbers, so ... whew! Everything is okay. Except for the consumer. And the manufacturer. And the merchants.)
The New York Times has a fuller discussion here, where it sees increasing grain products prices as a side effect of global competition for commodities.
The newspaper notes that the whole world wants to eat like Americans. Indeed, I suspect that our diet, based so heavily on wheat and meat proteins, is the envy of many developing nations. The problem is that we simply don't have the capacity for producing that kind of food for everyone on the planet.
We need fewer people, or a bigger Earth.
I think it's unlikely that either of those things is going to be happening soon.
In the mean time, it looks like we can expect prices for bread, pasta, cakes and snacks to rise, further taxing the budgets of American households already trying to figure out how to make do with less.