Author: Sylvain Charlebois
Crude oil prices are behaving like the tide these days—moving up and down with unsettling force. Just this past week, prices jumped from roughly $78 on March 10 to above $95 by March 13.
For the food industry, this kind of volatility is far more troubling than a steady rise in energy costs. Gradual increases can be managed. Wild swings cannot.
Food is an energy-intensive business. From fertilizers and farm machinery to refrigerated trucks and distribution networks, the entire food supply chain depends on energy. When oil prices behave like a yo-yo, uncertainty spreads quickly across the system.
