What is more worrying is that there is a prophecy that April to June will be the month of “big ups and downs”, a time of “suddenness” that we must be prepared for. What exactly is this?
Food price increases
People are food, let’s start with food. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations statistics, the FAO food price index in February this year, an average of 116.0 points, up 2.4%, after nine consecutive months of increases, the food price index has hit the highest level in nearly seven years.
Outside of food, the cereal price index also showed an upward trend in February, up 1.2 percent from a year earlier, up 26.5 percent from a year earlier, including the largest increase in sorghum, in response to strong demand from China, international sorghum prices rose 17.4 percent in February from a year earlier, up 82.1 percent from a year earlier, while international corn and wheat prices are also climbing.
Soybean prices, although somewhat lower in February, but still relatively close to the five-year record high, while in January, the price of soybeans had risen by more than 50%.
In addition, the price index for vegetable oils hit its highest level in nine years in February, with palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil and sunflower oil all rising.
Food prices also rose in mainland China. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of the Communist Party of China, the biggest increases between January and February were in fresh vegetables, which rose 6.9%, edible oil, which rose 6.1%, and food, tobacco and alcohol, which rose 0.9%.
Cotton price increase
Not only the price of food is facing an increase, but also the price of clothes is under pressure, as the price of cotton is rising sharply.
The rise in cotton has also raised the price of yarn, as cotton accounts for about 65% of the total cost in the production process of yarn, and the price of cotton yarn also rose by more than 30% at the beginning of March compared to its low point last year, according to Zheng Zheng data.
In addition to yarn, spandex and other textile raw materials prices have also risen sharply, which also led to the cost of yarn downstream fabric mills are also further elevated. Some industry insiders have analyzed the rise in cotton prices, which may lead to towels and other finished products rose by about 10%. As for clothing, although many brands of clothing gross margins generally more than 50%, but if companies do not want to compress their profit margins, it is also possible to raise the price of clothing.
Over the year, international cotton prices have also been on the rise, approaching their highest point in July 2018, for two reasons: the weather, which has led to a reduction in crop harvests due to insufficient rainfall; and another reason, which is the rejection of cotton from Xinjiang, mainland China, by downstream manufacturers.
In January 2021, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced a ban on cotton imports from Xinjiang, mainland China. The reason was widespread human rights abuses and forced labor in Xinjiang. Mainland China is the world’s leading cotton producer, supplying one-fifth of the world’s cotton, and more than 80 percent of mainland China’s cotton comes from Xinjiang. The CCP’s human rights abuses have led to a global boycott of cotton in Xinjiang and have affected cotton prices.
Price trends under the epidemic
We all spent last year in panic and anxiety, and we all looked forward to this year to move towards a normal life and work situation. From mid-March onwards, it seemed like we were seeing the world start to turn around gradually from the epidemic and economic life was slowly getting back on track. However, about 10 days ago, Dato’ Tay Boomi’s prediction seemed to drag us back to the anxious situation again, and his latest prediction was even more alarming. He urged everyone to be prepared for this “sudden” period of time. The word “Dato'” comes from ancient Rome, meaning an honorific for a person of high status and prestige, and he is known as the most accurate prophet of Dato’.
On March 21, he uploaded a new video titled “Human Self-Destruction, Vaccines Are Just a Prelude”. In the video, he said that this year’s “mountain fire Ben Gua” reminds people not to be misled by the illusion before them, “what you see may not be true, and you should not relax. He also said that we are destined to have another extraordinary year. In response to the epidemic, he believes it will need to drag on until after February next year before we slowly start to see the light of day.
In addition to Zheng’s prediction, Polish prophet Krzysztof Jackowski, who is known as a “clairvoyant,” also believes that 2019 will be the last relatively normal year in the world and that 2021 will still be a “bad” year for the world. ” year.
And the great French prophet Nostradamus predicted the global pandemic of 2020 back in the 16th century and predicted that 2021 would be even more devastating.
In The Centuries, he said, “After the great troubles that mankind has experienced, greater troubles are ready to come.” Nostradamus accurately predicted many of the great events in human history more than four hundred years ago, from the outbreak of world war to the birth of the atomic bomb, and from Hitler’s rise to power to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
While some of these predictions were not always accurate, and we would prefer not to have them come true, a precautionary, vigilant mindset is not to be taken lightly.
If the epidemic is not well controlled, it could be equally disastrous for the global economy. The epidemic will not only bring disruptions in the supply chain of the manufacturing industry, but also land, sea and air transportation will be semi-paralyzed, with untimely supply and shortage of goods, which will lead to an imbalance between supply and demand in the market, and the trend of rising shipping prices and accelerated soaring prices of raw materials will become more serious. Because of this, many market analyses believe that the pressure of price increases may continue into the first half of next year. If the epidemic becomes more serious, the possibility of a major economic depression will also increase.
Soaring housing prices
Let’s look at the housing situation again. As governments implement monetary easing policies, property prices around the world are rising, and in the U.S., they have recorded the largest increase in home prices since 2014.
According to U.S. media reports, a home to be repaired in a Washington suburb was listed for $275,000, and the manager received 88 offers in three days.
The current U.S. housing market, which is already completely different from a year ago, saw a sharp drop in transactions and a 40% plunge in home sales when the epidemic first broke out last year. However, last May, sales rebounded and inventory was absent. Home prices have been rising due to the lack of housing supply.
In addition to the tight supply of housing, low interest rates are another reason for rising home prices, as it is now easier for people to get a loan. In Australia, residential prices in the two major cities of Sydney and Melbourne rose by 4% and 3% respectively in March this year, both the biggest single-month increases since the 1980s, because, for the first time, interest rates on fixed home loans fell below 2%, leading to a sharp rise in property prices.
Household appliances price increase
In addition to clothing, food and housing, these daily essential consumption, like some daily use of home appliances and other items are also rising. Since December last year, some international home appliance brands have issued notices of price increases for air conditioners, washing machines and refrigerators in mainland China, and prices are also rising, and the momentum of increases is likely to continue next.
Appliance prices are the main driving force is the raw materials, such as steel, plastic, copper, aluminum and other price increases conducted to the consumer end, so, range hoods, gas cookers, electric water heaters, televisions, small household appliances, hardware, etc., have not escaped the “price increase” palm.
Crude oil, iron ore prices rose
In this round of price increases, the most crazy is the iron ore, as of March 9, 2021, Platts 62% iron ore prices have risen to $ 163.6 per ton, up 81.5% over a year ago. Iron ore is a basic raw material for industry, and steel is very commonly used, so the rising price of iron has pushed up the price of products in many industries, including home appliances.
The rise in energy prices is another major driver. The U.S. WTI crude oil price reached an average of $59.06 a barrel in February this year, compared to an average of $16.52 a barrel in April last year. The rise in crude oil prices has not only raised the energy costs of enterprise production, but also pulled up the prices of petrochemical raw material products.
Mainland Zhengzhou, Henan Province, a flooring coating business enterprise in charge of the media has said, plastic particles are now a day a price, not exaggerated at all. Earlier there are factory owners in the circle of friends posted that copper rose 38%, plastic rose 35%, aluminum rose 37%, iron rose 30%, glass rose 30%, zinc alloy rose 48%, stainless steel also soared 45%!
Suez Canal blockage for the price increase “on fire”
In the global rise in the sound, a few days ago, the Suez Canal, a huge blockage, but also to the price tide added a fire.
March 29, six days stranded Evergreen super-large container ship Ever Given (Ever Given) finally from the Suez Canal out of trouble. About 10 percent of global maritime oil shipments pass through the Suez Canal, as does 8 percent of liquefied natural gas, and just hours after the Suez Canal channel was blocked, a backlog of about 10 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products had built up at both ends of the canal.
This comes on top of the already widespread delays in the global supply chain, and the Suez Canal blockage is certainly adding to the problem. Most analysts believe that the incident has disrupted global trade and pushed up freight costs as well as energy prices, which will drive global inflation to continue to rise.
At the moment, it seems that everything is going up in price, but some netizens depressed that there is one exception, wages did not rise!
Recent Comments