Deadly floods in Pakistan devastated crops and food supplies, killing 1,600 people and displacing 14 million. Mohammed Ibrahim Mogul, the chairman of Agri Forum Pakistan, told Bloomberg News that the heavy rains and subsequent flooding had caused $2.9 billion in losses, including 700,000 acres of cotton, 200,000 acres of rice, 500,000 metric tons of wheat and 100,000 head of livestock.
The floods are the worst that the nation has ever experienced, and the toll is growing in both human and economic terms. Combined with the drought in Russia, which has ruined wheat and other grains in the Black Sea region, many fear a global shortage of food and a sharp rise in prices.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, wheat futures rose a further 2.38 percent to trade at $7.4225 per bushel. Number 11 raw sugar futures climbed 2.35 percent to 18.69 per pound, while cotton rose 2.14 percent to 82.63 per pound.
Corn climbed 1.22 percent to $4.16 per bushel.
With severe weather affecting major crops around the world, the price of food has been rising. In 2007 and 2008, similar shortages caused riots and starvation in many emerging nations.
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