Posted 4/19/2011

CHINA WANTS OUR NUTS

Yes, China is really going after our nuts.

Pecans, to be specific.

Six years ago, the United States grew the bulk of the world's pecans and consumed 70 percent of them. China imported only one percent of our pecans.

But in 2009, China discovered pecans, which the Chinese believe improve the brain power of infants and help prevent Alzheimer's in the elderly. The nuts are even supposed to be good for heart disease.

American pecans are so pricy and popular in Beijing that a nine-ounce bag costs six times the minimum wage rate.

In 2009, China imported a whopping 28 percent of our pecans. Last year China's consumption of American pecans increased twenty times over 1995.

What's it to you? Well, all that new demand from China has driven up the price of pecans. The price per pound has risen from $3.35 to $6.95 in just two years. Which is pretty much the pattern for soybeans when China discovered them.

As a result of China's desire for American farm products, your food costs are being driven up. There's real food inflation in America today, driven by increases in fuel and materials costs, and hiked even higher by China's ravenous appetites.

They used to say, "When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold." Now they say, "When China develops a taste for something, up, up and away goes the price."

The next time your boss says he'll give you a three percent raise, tell him about your food bills.

And then hit him on the head with a bag of pecans and a bushel of soybeans.

(click here for a printable version of this article)