Agflation (agriculture + inflation)
“Agflation” (agriculture + inflation) means agricultural commodity price inflation. The Wall Street Journal, on April 30, 2007, credited the term to the financial firm of Merryl Lynch, noting a similarity to the established economic term of “stagflation.”
The word “agflation” spread quickly in the financial stories of 2007.
Wikipedia: Agflation
Agflation, a term coined in the late first decade of the 21st century, describes generalised inflation led by rises in Agricultural commodity prices. In the United States, agricultural prices are not generally factored into core inflation figures. The term describes a situation in which “external” (i.e. Agricultural) price rises drive up core inflation rates.
It has been claimed that the term was invented by analysts at Merrill Lynch in early 2007.
Investopedia
What Does Agflation Mean?
An increase in the price of food that occurs as a result of increased demand from human consumption and use as an alternative energy resource. While the competitive nature of retail supermarkets allows some of the effects of agflation to be absorbed, the price increases that agflation causes are largely passed on to the end consumer. The term is derived from a combination of the words “agriculture” and “inflation”.
Wall Street Journal—MarketBeat
April 30, 2007, 12:59 PM ET
Midday Tidbits — Texas-Style Inflation
By David Gaffen
A few thoughts as investors continue to buy stocks as investments, but shun houses for the same purpose:
(...)
Merrill Lynch isn’t as concerned about Stagflation as it is about Agflation. “While inflation has become a concern for the financial markets, it has even led some economists to suggest we may be facing a period of stagflation again,” strategists there write in a report. “What concerns us is not the cyclical rise we have seen in inflation, but a secular price rise we have seen in the global agricultural business that may be more long-lived, or Agflation.”
Scotsman.com
Agflation feeds a new problem for the world
Published Date: 04 May 2007
By BILL JAMIESON
HIGH, persistent and continuing rises in food prices are now posing problems around the world. It has brought forth a new term in economics: “agflation”. It is the behaviour of food prices - an inflation that none of us can avoid - that some believe could rival global warming as the biggest single concern on the planet.
The Economist
Nuns mug orphan!
Soon we’ll all be fighting for food
May 6th 2007
NUNS mug disabled orphan for bag of crisps. As a headline, it certainly grabs the attention. This is the title of the latest note from the iconoclastic fund managers at Bedlam Asset Management, and it relates to a phenomenon that is sweeping the world—rising food prices.
Merrill Lynch has also coined an eye-catching term for the process: agflation. The prices of rice, wheat, corn, barley, cattle and pork are all up by more than 30% since March 2005.
24/7 Wall St.
Cramer Talks Agflation
Posted: May 8, 2007 at 11:17 am
On TheStreet.com videos today, Jim Cramer noted that a recent term from Merrill Lynch on ‘Ag-Flation’ is a real risk just like China related inflation. The ethanol mandates recently have driven up costs around the entire grain and farming complex and presidential mandates are driving prices up across the board.
Finance Trends Matter
Monday, May 14, 2007
“Agflation” is the new buzzword.
It seems that economists and media have latched onto a new economic buzzword.
“Agflation” is the term being tossed about lately to describe the recent rise in food and grain prices worldwide. The term seems to recall the 1960s-coined phrase “stagflation, while alluding to the supposed inflationary effects of rising prices for staple food items.
But to say that rising food prices produce an inflationary (or, I suppose, an “agflationary”) effect is to say that inflation is, itself, an occurrence of rising prices. While modern use of the term “inflation” has been corrupted to reflect this meaning, it is incorrect in light of its classical definition, an increase in the supply of money and credit.
The Economist
Rising food prices
The agonies of agflation
Fuel for the body and the car
Aug 25th 2007
SHARING pain is usually deemed a good thing. So advocates of dishing out agony will be gladdened that the wallet-crunching pangs of car drivers filling up with petrol are now equalled by the wince-inducing stabs felt by shoppers piling up their supermarket trolleys. As oil prices stay high, wheat prices hit an all-time peak of over $7.50 a bushel for December delivery at the end of trading in Chicago on Thursday August 23rd.