(#Japan #Earthquake) To Trade the Disaster...

I would say rice.

The Tohoku region of Japan is a big, rice-growing region, famous for some of the tastiest short-grain (Japonica) rice. There is absolutely NO WAY that they can grow rice this season (the next season is uncertain at best, I'm afraid).

Rice-planting season usually starts in May, but they start growing seedlings in early April.

And, I hate to say it, but the farmers... I just hope all escaped to safety.

It's not just salt water that swept over the fields. Crude or refined oil, toxic chemicals from big manufacturing plants that dot the region, not to mention debris that will have to be removed. The fertile top soil that has been carefully cultivated for generations may have been swept away, if not heavily contaminated.

This is an unmitigated disaster. On top of Ben's man-made disaster (QE2), a natural disaster like this hits and food prices will skyrocket...

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