The Simple Way To PoP The Oil Bubble Speculation

When essential commodities are no longer traded in a free market that relies on supply and demand new legislation is needed to correct the insanity. When the stock market creates a bubble the only people who hurt are the speculators and investors who have a choice to invest or not to invest. In the essential food and energy commodities markets it is the world populations that suffer when things get out of Extract Oil . The answer to the current oil and food commodity market´s wild speculations is a simple one and yet overlooked at this moment in time. Before we explore the answer that can solve the problem, let's investigate the causes of the nonsensical prices. Most speculators will tell you they only trade oil futures for one reason and that is to make money. It is their money and they will trade the easiest way to make a fast buck with the minimal risk. It seems they have a one way bet at the moment. The commodity markets were devised to trade and hedge oil companies production and find a market for the oil they extracted from the ground. It was a place where buyers and sellers met and a fair price was struck by the laws of supply and demand. Today, accurate supply and demand has little influence on the price of a barrel of oil and speculation rules the day. Consequently, the oil futures market is no longer a free market. Rather, it is a speculators market that can control prices by intellectual rhetoric consisting of opinionated experts and propaganda from the president of Iran. The price of oil has risen from $12.00 a barrel in 1999 to a high of $127.00. The two main factors that aid and abet the speculators are; Firstly, the Iranian government is hell bent on constructing a nuclear reactor and repeatedly states it craves to destroy the state of Israel. This propaganda accounts for 50% of the price rise in oil and puts a floor under any falls. Whenever prices weaken a little, the president of Iran communicates his repulsive propaganda to a media hungry for sensationalistic news. Secondly, expert opinion states China and India are booming and although there is no shortage at the moment, in five years time there will be. Even though most Indians and Chinaness ride bikes or walk. To be fair there has been an increase in oil demand in these counties, but nothing to spike prices to ridiculously high levels. What the so called oil experts do not take into account is economies do not boom forever and recession or inflation will come along and dampen the growth substantially. Also, many new discoveries of oil will emerge in the next five years that will add to the already enormous amounts of oil still in the ground. By the experts logic and reasoning we could declare that apples may be in short supply in five years due to prophesies of a famine in the orchards, so increase the price of an apple to $50.00. Accordingly, there is no true reason why oil is trading at $127.00 other than the fact speculation is controlling a market that is no longer free to trade solely on genuine supply and demand. What is the simple answer to end the craziness? The USA government should pass a law that declares every oil contact bought on the mercantile exchanges must be delivered to the buyer and held in storage no longer that 6 months. It cannot be traded back onto the exchanges and its end use must be in an oil related business. Likewise, all sell contacts have to originate straight from companies that extract oil from the ground and they cannot trade contacts that have been purchased on the exchanges. This act will restore the exchanges back to the standing they were intended to be and a fair market price will be established for all essential commodities. The other commodities such as gold and silver can still be the plaything of the speculators in the same way as the stock market. The fear of enacting the law will be enough to drive the speculators away from the oil market in double quick time. As oil prices crash to around $40.00 a barrel, improving most corporations profits, the stock market prices will go through the roof, helping pension funds and public sentiments. Once again the open road will become the delight of the people that is an intrinsical part of the American way of life. The family can enjoy a car ride out in the countryside or beach without watching in dread as the fuel gauge drops.

Pest management remedies from the kitchen

When considering a product to aid in pest management, it is important to treat with the mildest product that will do the job while being the least disruptive to beneficial insects and the least-toxic to people. It often makes sense to wait a little while before treating to see if beneficial insects will do the job for you. The Texas Bug Book by Howard Garrett and Malcolm Beck and the Insect Color Handbook by Anna Carr are two helpful books for Epoxidized Soybean Oil . Over the long term, gardeners will reap great dividends from planting a variety of native and well-adapted naturalizing plants. Many of these plants such as wild ageratum, butterfly weed and native asters will attract them in droves while others like black-eyed Susan, scarlet sage, Indian blanket, Gulf Coast penstemon, bee balm, gayfeather, Mexican hat, and verbena will provide the nectar to feed the adult form of many beneficials. Before you know it, the beneficials will visit other plants in your landscape and help keep populations of pests like tomato hornworms, spider mites, aphids, whiteflies, webworms, tent caterpillars and others in check. In order to keep the beneficials in play, it is necessary to hold off on using harsh, toxic chemical and organic pesticides in and around the landscape and garden. These days, we have so many least-toxic organic options available, that the need for the old toxic treatments is simply moot. The following are a few homemade pest management products that are easy to use effectively and safely when transitioning to a more ecological approach to pest management. Over time as you stop using harsh pesticides, as you start planting natives, and as you stop using pest prone plants, you will find that it becomes rare that even least-toxic treatments are needed.

Animal oil producers hope lower biodiesel cost

If the world is grumpy about using food products such as corn and soybean products to make fuel then try this: how about using animal fat as a biodiesel of Animal Oil ? Animal fats, primarily those triglycerides your doctor warns you about, are looking better and better to biodiesel producers who have seen their soy oil feedstock almost double in price in the last year. Renewable Energy Group (REG) of Ames now runs animal fats in at least four of its seven biodiesel plants in the state, according to Gary Haer, vice president of sales and marketing. He says the animal fat fuel works well in the diesel market, whether it's blended at 5 percent, 10 percent or 20 percent with regular diesel. "Biodiesel made from animal fats is a very good product, and we are using it as one of our alternatives to soybean oil," Haer said. Another biodiesel group, Benefuel, which uses an India-developed technology to process the animal fat, is scouting the state for investors and plant sites. Bill Summers, Benefuel's engineer and business consultant, says Iowa is the logical place to concentrate an animal fat-based biodiesel industry because of the large supply of animal fats from rendering plants. Besides, he says, a fuel doesn't need a pure product such as soy oil. "Iowa didn't start growing soybeans to make soy oil for a fuel," says the 63-year-old Summers, an Indiana native who has worked as an engineer for a Texas seed company and, for the last two decades, as a consultant for Iowa venture capital firms. Animal fats aren't immune from rising prices. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says animal fats, mostly sold by animal rendering firms, are expected to increase in price 8 percent to 9 percent this year. That's still better than soybean oil prices, which have nearly doubled in the last 12 months to about 60 cents a pound. Producers need 7.5 pounds of soybean oil to make one gallon of biodiesel, according to one industry estimate. Benefuel's process uses dry catalysts, which are mixed with animal fats to turn methanol - the basic heat source for biodiesel - into a pure biodiesel product. As with soy processes, Benefuel's catalysts break down triglycerides and leave behind a fuel. Like soy oil-based biodiesel, the animal fat process separates out a pure glycerin, which can be sold to the pharmaceutical, food and cleaning industries. The idea of substituting animal fats or tallow for soy oil isn't new. REG began testing animal fat biodiesel in February 2007. "You have to be careful with animal fat biodiesel because it tends to gel quicker in colder weather, and that's why we ran the test in February," Haer said. "But that can be managed." Haer said the early 2007 tests were encouraging enough for REG to begin adding animal fats to its feedstock mix. He said REG plants can switch back and forth between soy oil and animal fats. Summers describes the Benefuel process as "second generation" biodiesel. The problem, of course, is that the first generation of biodiesel is having more than its share of problems. Biodiesel has enjoyed nothing like the boom that its fuel cousin, ethanol, experienced in the last two years. While ethanol production is expected to top 7 billion gallons in the United States this year, biodiesel will likely be fortunate to achieve the 450 million gallons made last year. The Iowa biodiesel industry has been shaken by two events this year. REG withdrew its planned initial public stock in late March. At the same time, the East Fork Biodiesel plant in Algona, which opened to much fanfare last year, closed. Operators say they would lose money at today's prices if the plant began production. "We're an industry coming out of our infancy into adolescence," REG's Haer said. "We're learning that the quality of the product is important. We can use different feedstocks for biodiesel and the market will accept it, but the product must be of good quality."

Dilmah Offers Real Ethical Teas to US Consumers

Although new in the US, Dilmah Tea is the number one brand of authentic, garden fresh single origin Ceylon tea in over 90 countries. teadog.com, an Internet retailer, now offers Dilmah Tea in 20 varieties. Dilmah is the world's first Ethical Tea. Earnings are shared with workers and the community in Sri Lanka as well as reinvested to help make tea a sustainable Concentrated Tea
. Dilmah is single origin 100% pure Ceylon tea. Single origin means it comes exclusively from Sri Lanka, home of the world's finest teas. Some tea brands are blends from up to 30 different countries. Quality often suffers with blended teas. Dilmah Tea is made the old-fashioned way. The company still picks the two tender tea leaves and bud, where the full flavor is concentrated. The company grows the tea in Sri Lanka, harvests the tea by hand, packages the tea in-house and markets it under their brand, dispensing with middlemen. To ensure maximum freshness, Dilmah Tea is packed at the source within days of harvesting. The unconditional freshness guarantee means more antioxidants in every cup. In 1988, Merrill J Fernando launched Dilmah, the world' first fully-integrated family tea company.

Onion marketers adjust to changing exports

Tag: onion product
Onion marketers are taking varying approaches to the export market. Some note that the market is shrinking. Others are working to expand the export market for their own companies. “We’re exporting to the Netherlands right now,” said Michael Hively, general manager of Glennville, Ga.-based Vidalia onion grower-shipper Bland Farms LLC. “They want a medium sweet onion. This is our first year, so we’ll see how it goes.” Shipments were scheduled to run between April 21 and May 21, he said. “If it works, we’ll look into similar things elsewhere,” Hively said. “We have a comfort level with this gentleman. If it works, then we’ll start focusing on maybe France or the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe.” The weakness of the dollar compared to the euro made it a good time to try this experiment, Hively said. “It’s a good time, but the quality of the onion has evolved the last four or five years that now we have a good shipping onion that can travel 21 days on the water with no problem at all,” he said. Other shippers say they hesitate to ship a sweet onion — known for a shorter shelf life than other varieties — to overseas markets. “That’s a problem with having a product that’s as perishable as these,” said Don Ed Holmes, owner of the Weslaco, Texas-based Onion House LLC. “When 1015s came out, we shipped some to Oslo, Norway. We put them on a boat, and about three weeks later they arrived. The guy on the other end called, and you could hear him scream after putting the phone down. That’s generally been the deal here.” Hardier onions like those grown in the Pacific Northwest are better suited to overseas travel, Holmes said. “People in Washington and Idaho and Oregon are real good at it,” he said. “They do it every year. They’re familiar with the way to ship them. One, they’re starting with a product that’s ideal for that — they’re hard as a rock. It’s a good solid hard product that’s suited for that. They know how do to the freight, and they’re familiar with the people in Japan, Taiwan and Korea.” Wayne Mininger, executive vice president of the Greeley, Colo.-based National Onion Association, said the international onion market is competitive. “Eight percent of the world’s onion production moves from the country of origin to the country it’s consumed,” he said. “That’s significant when you think about it. Whether it’s moving onions from India to Pakistan, or from Holland to Russia, or from Peru to the U.S. or from New Zealand to Germany, onions are moving around the world all the time in raw form.” The single largest foreign consumer of U.S.-grown onions is Canada, Mininger said. “With the increasing currency exchange value of the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar, it has made the U.S.’s onions actually more of a value in Canadian markets,” he said. “That’s the positive. At the same time, we’ve lost a lot of the Japanese opportunities to the cheap onions that run up into Japan now out of China. So there’s excitement on one hand and distress on the other because there just isn’t near the opportunity in Japan as there was five years ago.” Mininger noted Mexico has increased its intake of U.S. onions. “It’s important to note that Mexico is now a major market,” Mininger said. “We’re seeing a lot of Mexican onions shipped to the U.S., which has been the case for a long time, but now we’re also seeing a lot of U.S.-grown onions go to Mexico.” For some shippers in the Pacific Northwest, sending a shipment to Canada is no tougher than sending one to a neighboring state. “Canada is one of our better customers,” said Michael Locati, president of Locati Farms Inc., Walla Walla, Wash. “We’re close to the border and, transportation being what it is, we can get things north pretty easily.” The parity of the U.S. and Canadian dollars is a benefit in that respect, Locati said. “It’s basically equal, so dollar-for-dollar that’s good on both sides, really,” he said. “There aren’t any tariffs or anything like that. When the government starts messing around with it, that’s when problems begin.” Chris Eddy, sales manager of the McAllen, Texas, office of Oviedo, Fla.-based Duda Farm Fresh Foods Inc., said his company also has a good business in Canada.

We all want to get paid

Tag: Groundnut Kernels
Apart from visions of global domination, all exporters have at least one thing in common – they all want to get paid! The easiest way to ensure payment is by asking for it upfront before you start to manufacture, but obviously this does not always work. One payment option is by letter of credit or documentary credit. Documentary credit has two meanings – it refers to the actual document of undertaking issued by the bank at the request of an applicant (the buyer) to pay the seller a sum of money under specified conditions (for example, seller provides compliant documents for the purpose of transferring property in the goods or possession of the goods to the buyer). Second, it refers to an arrangement for effecting payment in a transaction under which the bank acts as an intermediary between the seller and the buyer as a provider of finance to the buyer or a guarantee to the seller. The obligation to pay arises as a result of a contract of sale stipulating payment by way of documentary credit as well as supplementary contracts between both buyer and his bank and seller and his bank. The tricky thing with documentary credits is that to enforce them is a matter of strict liability. If conditions of the documentary credit are not satisfied, the bank will not pay. This is where freight forwarders come in. Because shipping documents need to be provided for the bank to pay up on a documentary credit, your freight forwarder needs to make sure that bills of lading etc are correct, especially in relation to description and quantity of goods. There is a famous case where a bank was allowed to refuse a bill of lading which stated the goods as being “machine shelled groundnut kernels” not “coromandel groundnuts” as described in the letter of credit, even though it was later established both descriptions referred to the same nuts. In another case, the bank was rejected a bill of lading which revealed a shipment to be short by three bags of sugar. The lesson: Freight forwarders need to be very careful when drafting of bills of lading so that descriptions match with letters of credit, otherwise you, the exporter, may not get paid. It pays for you, the client, to check any documentation going out from your freight forwarder against any documentary even if it is in really small print and seems to be a generic document.

Former Amazing Race Star Shares His Kind Sole

Tag: Rubber Sole Shoes
A North Texas man is helping impoverished children half a world away, two shoes at a time. Perhaps you have seen TOMS Shoes in a store or on someone's feet, but wait until you hear the 'soleful' story behind the footwear.It all began with an appearance on "The Amazing Race" in 2002. Blake Mycoskie lost the competition, but the shoeless children he saw in Argentina won his heart.Mycoskie said, "When I saw these kids running around on glass, or trying to play soccer on a field that had a bunch of rocks, and had no shoes, I immediately wanted to find a way to give them shoes."The former reality television show star started up TOMS Shoes (TOMS for 'tomorrow'), but don't call him the CEO. Mycoskie prefers the title of Chief Shoe Giver."It's an Argentine, canvas slip-on shoe that farmers, polo players, their girlfriends have been wearing for a very long period of time," Mycoskie explained of his product. "For every pair of shoes that we sell, we give one pair away to a child that doesn't have shoes."The Arlington native started selling the shoes out of his Los Angeles loft just two years ago. Since then, he has sold more than 65,000 pairs all over the country, and plans to sell 200,000 more this year. The rubber-soled shoes, which retail for $40-$48, can be found in 300 boutiques and department stores including Nordstrom.Mycoskie's 'shoe drops' have even extended beyond Argentina, to South Africa and Ethiopia.The best part of his success, Mycoskie said, is giving it back to the children. "You can just tell in their face, as they're literally stepping down and feeling the cushion of the shoes, what a new experience that is for them. And it's amazing, every time we do it."