Rising Food Prices Point To China Policy Challenges -UN Envoy (Source : CME)
Sharp increases in food prices highlight shrinking arable land and land degradation in China, putting at risk the country's ability to sustain increases in agricultural production, a senior United Nations official said. The sharp agricultural product price rally this year has fed into the highest inflation levels in 28 months, even as China said earlier this month it secured a seventh consecutive record grain harvest. Despite the rising output numbers, Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, indicated that food inflation pointed to deeper policy problems. "The recent food price hikes in China are a harbinger of what may be lying ahead," he wrote in a release published along with a six-page report on the situation in China. "The widening gap between rural and urban is an important challenge to the right to food of the Chinese population," he said.
Since 1997 China has lost 8.2 million hectares of arable land to urbanization, industrialization, forest replanting programs and natural disasters, he said. "Today, 37% of China's total territory suffers from land degradation." Shrinking arable land poses a major threat to China's policy aim of maintaining self-sufficiency in grains and will fuel competition over land and land evictions, de Schutter said. He urged Beijing to accelerate the pace of sustainable farming and move toward more low-carbon agriculture, as well as address a widening urban-rural income gap and phase out a household registration system that deprives rural migrant workers from access to basic services in cities.
US home sales bounce back, 3rd-quarter GDP raised
WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose in November, offering the latest sign the economy was ending the year on a more solid footing after a sluggish third-quarter.
The Commerce Department on Wednesday said the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the third quarter, a touch above its earlier 2.5 percent estimate, but more of that output ended up in warehouses.
China top banker sees rate rises
SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Dec 23 (Reuters) - China Construction Bank Corp (CCB) Chairman Guo Shuqing said he expects the government to raise interest rates and lift bank required reserve ratios (RRR) further next year.
Guo, former head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and widely seen as a candidate for the next central bank governor, told Xinhua News Agency that the moves were aimed at reining in money supply and bank credit.
PRECIOUS-Gold holds above $1,380/oz as debt fears support
LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Gold held steady above $1,380 an ounce in Europe on Thursday as trade thinned ahead of the Christmas holidays, but was set for its first weekly gain in three as worries over euro zone sovereign debt lent support.
Spot gold was bid at $1,383.65 an ounce at 1033 GMT, against $1,384.55 late in New York on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures for February delivery fell $3.10 to $1,384.30.
FOREX-China support steadies euro, outlook shaky into 2011
LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The euro steadied against the dollar and the Swiss franc on Thursday, helped by supportive comments from China, but analysts said the outlook for the single currency was shaky, with fresh losses expected into 2011.
Liquidity was at a premium in currency markets ahead of year-end, with traders saying flows were having a bigger impact on price than fundamentals.
U.S. wheat at 4-1/2 month top, soy, corn firm
SINGAPORE, Dec 23 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat rose 0.4 percent to a 4-1/2 month high as fears of tight global supplies next year and talk of Russia's extension on grain exports underpinned the market."The grain markets are in follow-through price mode as Australia is still supportive for wheat, although the market has factored it in. And there are ongoing rumours that Russia may extend the export ban," said Ker Chung Yang, an analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
World stocks scale two-year highs; oil firm
PARIS, Dec 23 (Reuters) - World stocks hit their highest level since September 2008 on Thursday while oil held near a two-year peak as favourable U.S. data reinforced expectations economic growth will retain momentum into next year."The corporate picture still looks very bright, the trend towards higher profits is going to continue and public policies should remain shareholder-friendly," said Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Wealth.
