Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Juxtaposition in the Financial Times

There was an interesting juxtaposition in today's Financial Times. Page seven contained an article on commodities with the bearish headline, "So long, super-cycle". The article itself was more balanced than that headline, and included a couple of "to be sure" paragraphs, summarizing the view that the current commodity correction is a cyclical one within an intact secular bull market. The main focus of the article though was on the bearish view, including that of the World Bank, that the commodities boom is over. This article was juxtaposed by these two articles on page six, warning of falling supply of agricultural commodities:

"Crop Crunch: Brazil Farmers lose debt battle", which noted that,

Credit for fertiliser and other inputs has dried up. Soya production in the [Brazilian] state [of Mato Grosso] is likely to fall by 10 per cent this year, farmers say. Next year, it could fall by two-thirds.

and,

"Sharp drop in Argentine wheat output forecast", which noted that,

"Wheat output from Argent­ina, the world’s number four exporter, is set to fall by more than 37 per cent in 2008-09..."

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