May
17 – Bloomberg (Fabiana Batista):
“Brazil, the world’s biggest exporter
of coffee, sugar and orange juice, just had a rainy season that brought
hardly any rain. Soils are parched and river levels are low in the
nation’s Center-South region, a powerhouse of agricultural output. The
drought is so severe that farmers are worried they’ll run out of the
water reserves that help keep crops alive over the next several months,
the country’s dry season… The prospect of withering orange trees and
coffee plants is coming at a time when agricultural crops are rallying
to multiyear highs, which has fanned fears of food inflation. Higher
food costs may exacerbate hunger, a problem around the globe that the
Covid-19 pandemic has made more acute.”
May
19 – Reuters:
“Taiwan will tighten curbs on the use of water from June 1
in the major chip making hubs of Hsinchu and Taichung as it battles an
islandwide drought, if there is no significant rainfall by then, the
government said… Describing the drought as the worst in the island's
history, the economy ministry said in the absence of rain it would raise
the drought alert level to its highest, requiring companies in the two
science parks to cut water consumption by 17%.”