Famine?

Reports coming out of China regarding food supplies are not good. The swine herds have been greatly depleted due to the latest swine flu epidemic with some pre-flood reports showing a two-thirds reduction of pork supplies. Then in June, rains started ravishing Eastern China with record flooding on at least 32 main rivers. One report from early August stated: "Surging floodwater burst the banks of Poyang Lake in Jiangxi province last month, destroying thousands of acres of farmland in what's known as the ‘land of fish and rice.’ The broader Yangtze River basin — which includes Poyang Lake and stretches more than 3,900 miles from Shanghai in the East to the Tibetan border in the West — accounts for 70% of the country's rice production." On August 22nd a rain storm dropped 11 inches of water on most of Southwestern China, threatening some older dams in that region. This is the area which feeds the Mekong which flows into Cambodia. Sources from China are reporting that all food advertising is banned and the people are instructed to reduce food consumption by one-third. Pork and beef prices in Cambodia have risen sharply in the last two months with Chinese buyers scouring the countryside for available supplies. Much of Asia is suffering from drought, flood, or locust problems. The outlook is not great for abundant supplies.

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