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effect of grain deal Cost of almost all food hiked By DON McLEOD WASHINGTON LP The real loser in the great Russian grain sales of 1972 was the American consumer, who is paying drastically higher prices, for just about everything he eats. The depletion of vital commodity stores, a transportation crisis and inflation have combined to slam the U.S. bread- winner with a blow to the breadbasket. Food prices in the first half of this year rose an average of 10 per cent above the same period of DAAAAAAAAASANARA SARA AL grain exports have had a domino effect, push ing up prices for almost everything in the grocery store, and other items, too. In this, the last in a series, the impact of these exports is explored. 1972, before the grain trading began. Projections from gov ernment experts are that the annual rate of in crease for all of 1973 will reach 18 to 22 per cent. A rise of 22 per cent would be an all-time high. And it can't be written off to general inflation. For the fiscal year which ended June 320, farm prod ucts, processed foods and feeds accounted for two thirds of the total increase in the wholesale price index. THE IMPACT of the grain shortage goes far beyond the cost of flour and bread. Everything in the grain-feed chain went up as the basic grains rose. Because feed costs more, all kinds of meat cost more. So do milk, butter and cheese. Hides have gone up sharply and so have new shoes for the children in government freezes and housewife boycotts were aimed at the wrong targets. They hit produc ers who couldn't sell their products for enough money to pay for their feed. Chicks were drown ed and pregnant hogs slaughtered, creating fu ture shortages which will drive prices still higher. The people holding all that valuable grain, how ever, didn't have to worry — if the U.S. cattlemen coldn't affort it, foreign buyers could, subsidized by Uncle Sam and in some cases by their own governments. IN AN EFFORT to re leve the strain on food prices, the government's Commodity Credit Corp. , dumped its states on the market. There weren't enough freight cars to carry the grain, let alone the rest of the country's business. The congestion left empty cars unable to get tor where they were needed. Farmers needing seed and fertilizer to get in this year’s crop couldn't get it. Crops were late getting planted all across the country. At summer’s end, the Agriculture De partment said crops his year will be short of early aredictions Railroad freight rates went up iG per cent, with a corresponding rise in world shipping rates, boosting the price of everything that moved, even such far removed items as furniture and new housing, for want of food. The large grain compa nies, which own their own freight cars and river barges and had first call on the railroads, monopo lized the available facalt ies. FARMERS and small elevators unable to deliv er contracted gerain on time were charged lite penalties by the same big companies. One reason given for turning to wide-open ex ports was to help the farmers, and some pros pered from the higher prices their crops com manded. Net realized farm in tCont’d on Page A-7)
Newspaper Details
Independent Press Telegram
Long Beach, California, US
Sat, Oct 27, 1973
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Lee H.
USA 04 Sep 2026
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