Global inventories are being eroded in part because rising incomes in emerging markets mean consumers want to eat more meat, said Steve Shafer, the chief investment officer at Oklahoma City-based hedge fund Covenant Global Investors, who helps manage $315 million of assets.
"You've got two to three billion people on the other side of the planet who are bootstrapping their way out of poverty," he said. "You're going to see a rising supply-demand imbalance. That's a tightening of the pressure in the grain and protein markets for an indefinite period of time."