Summary
Vast tracts of Russia are burning. Smog from wildfires enshrouds Moscow amid a stubborn, punishing heat wave. As shrivelled wheat fields blaze, Vladimir Putin announces a "temporary" ban on grain exports by the world's third-largest producer. On cue, wheat futures reach their highest price for almost two years on the Chicago exchange.
And this, to the humble consumer, is odd. The United States, the biggest grain exporter of them all, predicts a bumper harvest. Australia is also optimistic. Analysts, meanwhile, report that after two good years there is a healthy surplus of wheat around the globe. But in Britain food manufacturers contemplate the news from Chicago and forecast that prices must surely rise.See the full content of this document
Extract
There's a Burning Question That Goes Against the Grain
This is not because we import a significant amount of Russian grain: it is unsuitable, apparently, for the British loaf. Cows and pigs and chickens must be fed, though, as the inevitable expert will explain, and the trade in foodstuffs is global. As often as not there will follow a tale of "trends" - ever upward - and a r...
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