MID-DAY UPDATE: Global wheat supply, the Suez Canal, and Atlanta’s grease goldmine
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As protests continue today in Egypt, the global business community focuses on spikes in oil and wheat prices. The World Bank says 30 million Egyptians are impoverished, and most spend half their income on food. Egypt and surrounding countries have started ordering large amounts of grain to feed their citizens should the unrest spread.
The global economy is focused on the Suez Canal — the passage between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. While the Suez Canal is only responsible for 2 or 3 percent of the global oil supply, economists fear the unrest might spread into other, much bigger oil producing countries perhaps even the big one, Saudi Arabia. According to Juli Niemann, it won’t be long before the events in Egypt take their toll at the gas pump.
Speaking of oil, there’s a new fight over the rights of Atlanta’s supply of cooking grease. The grease is increasingly re-sold to make alternative fuel, and restaurant and bar owners have found themselves in the middle of a messy battle pitting grease collector again grease collector.
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