What of the price of corn?
An unprecedented period of commodity volatility is upon us as corn prices rose above US$4 per bushel (March 07 delivery) for the first time in a decade last week, this time it seems that the point of inflection could have been passed setting the long term market to high or rising.
When President George W. Bush pressed for even faster growth in the production of ethanol in his State of the Union address last week he was also issuing the clearest of signals to a truly global audience that the era of cheap food is now over.
President Bush may be more a convert to reducing the US dependency of foreign oil than he is to averting the impending disaster of global warming where presidential sceptiscism has yet to be troubled by exposure to the facts.
However that bears little on the outcome as, whatever the exact reasoning, the foot has hit the floor on converting to Biofuels and with Iowa the first state in the presidential electoral round, who would bet on this administration performing a u-turn on a policy that is revolutionising the economic outlook for the voters in the number one corn growing state.
To evaluate what happens next it is worth reviewing how the situation is poised on some key economic drivers.
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