El Nino’s Return Raises Specter of Food Inflation Spike in Asia
A rice field dried up due to an El Nino-induced drought in the Philippines. Photographer: Nana Buxani/Bloomberg
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Ling Ah Hong, a 35-year veteran of Malaysia’s palm-oil industry, remembers well the last time that the El Nino weather phenomenon wreaked havoc on food prices in Asia.
Inspecting his crop one day in 1997, Ling felt tinder-dry conditions underfoot and noticed palms with unopened leaves. “There were spot fires which burnt the trees with a lot of dry leaves such as rubber and cocoa,” said Ling, 63, who owns some plantations. “When the drought became full blown, some palm oil mills that didn’t have big water storage ran out of water.”