Investment Themes for 2010, Part 4 — Rising Food Prices

Food is getting expensive. In 2010, this trend could be a chance for you to make some serious money. No, I’m not talking about opening a restaurant. Rather, I’m talking about investing in agricultural commodity ETFs that track the price of the raw materials that make up the food we eat. Commodities such as corn, wheat, soy beans and sugar all are in demand right now, and that’s what’s making the price of food increase worldwide.

You see, the world’s developed-nation population continues to grow, as does the world’s collective income. More people with more money will equal more food consumption. This greater food consumption is really being seen in China, and the sheer population numbers in this massive country mean that we could see increased food demand for many years to come.

On the supply side of the equation, we have bad weather in many food-producing nations such as Argentina, India and the Philippines. Here in the United States, we’re likely to see stockpiles of corn and rice drop before the 2010 harvest. Also, sugar supplies are woefully low this year. According to the Department of Agriculture, sugar stores will drop to their lowest point in nearly 15 years. Finally, the total global production of rice has lagged demand in four of the past eight years, and increasing global rice consumption is expected to cut into stockpiles by more than 40%.

All of this adds up to rising food prices worldwide, a trend that I think will continue to be in play throughout the year.

Right now, subscribers to my Successful Investing advisory service have an allocation to an ETF that takes advantage of this rising food price scenario. If you’d like to find out more about how you can get allocated to this fund, then I invite you to check out Successful Investing today.