Norway: Grain stockpiling in focus as countries plan for the worst

Published 2024년 7월 1일

Tridge summary

Norway is planning to store 30,000 tonnes of wheat for the 2024-25 period in response to global geopolitical concerns, including war, pandemic, and climate change. The government-owned grain will be stored in facilities across the country for nationals security reasons, rather than commercial influence. This approach is seen as a worthwhile investment, despite the potential cost of storing the grain. However, an economist has raised concerns that government stockpiles could lead to higher prices by reducing the amount of grain available on the market.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The current geopolitical climate globally, with concerns about war, another pandemic and climate change has inspired one European nation to set up a grain stockpile in case of emergency. Norway announced this week it would start storing 30,000 tonnes of wheat for 2024-5 in case of emergency. The wheat, which will be owned by the Norwegian government, will be stored in bulk handling facilities across the country. Grains analyst Andrew Whitelaw said the concept of stockpiling was interesting in terms of its impact on the market. "First of all, the amount to be stored by Norway is very small, if you were to get a larger nation it would have a much bigger impact in terms of limiting the grain on the open market," Mr Whitelaw said. "Secondly, having a supply with a view to nation security is a lot different to having commercial reserves which could be then potentially be used to influence the market." "There are definite precedents with this, the UK only recently stopped its reserve ...

Source: Farmweekly