Recently, the 13 largest natural gas exporters held a meeting in Doha, Qatar. In The Observer, Alexander Temerko, former vice-president of Yukos, the Russian oil giant said, “I believe Moscow has already decided that a gas cartel is inevitable.” He believes that what they have in mind is, “… an organisation that will behave in ways entirely hostile to the market-orientated goals for which UK governments have pushed for two decades.”  We should remember that about 40% of the yield in grain and oilseed crops comes from the use of nitrogen fertiliser made using gas as the feedstock. In 2006 the European Commission warned that by 2030 , 84% of European gas supplies would come from outside the EU.                                                                                                                                                                               Â
European Grain Mountain used up
April 24th, 2007 by JohnFarmers Weekly, dated 21st April 07, reported that EU grain stocks are very tight. David Sheppard, managing director of Gledell Agriculture explained, “We’ve had significant volumes of grain in Intervention stores for the last few years, but the commission has effectively sold its safety valve.” This is a very dangerous situation because stocks are low worldwide and if we had a poor harvest for the next one or two years, panic buying would clear the shelves.
Should we be worried?
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