Food price inflation looks set to continue as a threat into 2012 as expectations for the US corn harvest, the world’s largest, are being lowered by the week.
Analysts and trading executives are cutting estimates of how many bushels each acre will grow as the effects of punishing heat last month result in smaller ears of corn. The private-sector estimates are well below already disappointing official forecasts published earlier this month.
The US accounts for half the world’s corn exports and the size of the crop has an outsize impact on global prices. Corn is also a critical feeding commodity, so a smaller crop would push prices higher, rapidly translating into more expensive beef, lamb, pork and poultry and higher food inflation.
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