Venezuela Food Crisis Deepens

CNN: Venezuela food crisis deepens as shipments plummet

You name it, Venezuela is short of it: Meat, fish, fruits, sugar and bread. The government just doesn't have enough money to pay for them.

It's created a staggering humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, where citizens don't have enough food to eat. Looting and riots have rocked the country. The declines in exports of certain food categories are staggering.

Bread shipments to Venezuela fell 94% in the first half of 2016 compared to the the same period last year. That's $216,000 worth of bread this year, versus $3.5 million last year.

* Meat exports declined 63% to $127 million, from nearly $350 million last year
* Exports of fruit such as bananas and strawberries plunged 99%, to $159,000, from $21 million
* Fish exports dropped 87%
* Sugar fell 34%

The numbers come from Panjiva, a global trade analytics firm, which pulls data from the United Nations, U.S. customs and other governments. For this article, Panjiva pulled export data from the United States, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Chile. Venezuela likely gets food from other countries that were excluded from this analysis.

Read more ....

Update #1: As Venezuela's farms and factories falter, the country struggles to feed its people (L.A. Times)
Update #2: Venezuela's inflation rates are now highest in the world, sending food prices through the roof. (Business Insider)

WNU editor: Venezuela is not there yet, but it is getting there .... Venezuela is a 'powder keg,' government will fall: opposition boss. (Reuters).