China Earthquake: Economic Tremors to follow?

Washington Post,May 19, 2008 page A13:

The most critical global economic issue may be the impact on oil prices. On May 16,2008,crude jumped to $128 a barrel in New York on speculation that China,the world's second largest consumers, after the USA,would have to increase imports because of energy short falls,resulting from earthquake damage.

Chinese officials announced the unusual measure of releasing tens of thousands of tons of grains and vegetable oil from national reserves. Such timely action is to be commended for the wellbeing of people in China.

Lehman Brothers research report stated that although the analyst did not expect significant disruption in agricultural production, the crisis could still exacerbate panics on rice supply given shortages in the global rice market. My comment: That remains to be seen if the rice price would be rising further in the days to come.

Francis Shieh a.k.a. Xie Shihao is very much concerned about the price of rice. May 19, 2008