Gregory Meyer and Samantha Pearson – Financial Times, 07/22/2012
The US is turning to Brazil for help with corn supplies as low stocks and the worst drought in half a century haunt the world’s leading grain exporter.
Meat companies including top pork producer Smithfield Foods have arranged to ship Brazilian corn to the US east coast as it has become cheaper than rations from the US corn belt, according to people familiar with the transactions.
The situation – analogous to Saudi Arabia importing oil – underscores how anxious buyers of corn, particularly the livestock, poultry and ethanol industries, have become, as 88 per cent of the domestic crop struggles in drought-hit regions.
[...] the slowdown, increased interest from venture capital firms, not to mention the profits from a gargantuan corn sale to the drought ridden United States. The dichotomy of positive and negative economic global [...]