European energy prices soared to fresh records amid worsening fears over supply, with U.K. natural gas futures exceeding the threshold of 300 pence a therm for the first time ever. Surging costs are threatening to raise inflation and starting to weigh on industrial production, with some companies in Europe forced to cut output. Concerns over gas storage levels in Europe are building as winter approaches, helping drive prices ever higher. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/europe-gas-power-surge-records-093323557.html

US- Indiana- Johnson Memorial Health Hospital is currently operating under electronic health record downtime procedures, after a cyberattack struck its computer network on Oct. 2. The health system operates a number of primary care sites, specialist offices, and other facilities across three Indiana counties. https://www.scmagazine.com/news/incident-response/cyberattack-drives-johnson-memorial-into-ehr-downtime-procedures

India’s ambitious plan to cut the use of fossil fuels by promoting ethanol derived from rice, corn and sugar is drawing criticism from some experts who warn the move could undermine food security in the world’s second-most populous country. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/why-india-s-ambitious-ethanol-plan-may-spark-food-security-fears-11633477972075.html

A natural gas shortage across Europe has created supply-chain shocks, as seen in the food industry, where problems continue to worsen. European natgas prices are at insane levels, triggering a domino effect of output reduction or closures of fertilizer plants on the continent. Last month, two of the U.K.'s largest fertilizer factories producing 45% of domestic demand closed, and one shortly reopened with government aid. By late month, Austrian fertilizer producer Borealis AG slashed ammonia output after the cost natgas compressed margins in an industry facing tight supplies. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/dominos-fall-germanys-largest-ammonia-producer-slashes-output-amid-energy-crisis

World food prices rose for a second consecutive month in September to reach a 10-year peak, driven by gains for cereals and vegetable oils, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday. https://www.reuters.com/business/world-food-prices-hit-10-year-peak-fao-2021-10-07/

Global wheat prices are up 41% on last year due to “tightening export availabilities amid strong demand”. World wheat prices are up almost 4% in September compared to August. Rice prices also rose in September, while those of maize increased by a moderate 0.3% – averaging 38% higher year-on-year. https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/global-wheat-prices-up-41-with-consumption-hitting-all-time-high/

Arabica coffee futures on ICE were higher on Thursday as the market waited to see if there would be sufficient rain in Brazil over the next few days to aid the flowering of next year's crop while cocoa and sugar prices also rose. December arabica coffee KCc1 rose 0.9% to $1.9515 per lb. December New York cocoa CCc1 rose 0.7% to $2,734 a tonne. March raw sugar SBc1 was up 1.2% at 20.00 cents per lb. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/softs-arabica-coffee-prices-rise-sugar-and-cocoa-also-up-2021-10-07

Twitch, Amazon's (AMZN) video live streaming platform, has become the latest victim of a cyberattack after an anonymous hacker claimed to have hacked the entire platform along with the source code and user payout information. ...the hacker took to 4chan (8kun) to post a torrent link of 125 GB with all the data which are now publicly available. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/twitch-cyberattack-exposes-source-codes-and-payout-information-2021-10-06

The only scenario where introducing a CBDC makes sense is in order to phase out the use of physical cash in order to be able to impose whatever negative interest rate regime the central bankers in charge judge necessary. Helicopter money, restrictions on cash holding, and negative interest rates are all part of the bundle of desirable policies that can only—or most easily—be achieved with digital currencies fully controlled by the issuing central banks. https://coinivore.com/2020/12/07/central-bank-digital-currencies-and-the-war-on-physical-cash/

At least three U.S. grain distributors’ systems have been infected with ransomware in recent weeks, raising concerns that hackers have found an easy target in a vital part of the U.S. food supply chain. All three known victims are Midwestern grain cooperatives that buy grain from farmers and then process, store and resell it for uses like livestock feed and fuel. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ransomware-hackers-find-vulnerable-target-us-grain-supply-rcna2702

Natural gas is a key ingredient in the process used to make nitrogen-based fertilizers used on a range of crops, including corn and wheat. Natural gas accounts for 75% to 90% of operating costs in the production of nitrogen, U.K. natural-gas futures have surged more than 340% so far in 2021, prompting the shutdown of fertilizer factories in the country and elsewhere earlier this year. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/fertilizer-prices-soaring-as-natural-gas-rally-adds-to-e2-80-98perfect-storm-e2-80-99/ar-AAPhgFi

Gazprom PJSC increased its 2021 price guidance for natural gas exports, while signaling caution on volumes it could ship, as Europe’s energy crisis worsens. The Russian gas giant, Europe’s biggest supplier of the fuel, reiterated that shoring up inventories at home was its top priority. Only after it has refilled its own storage facilities by the end of October, would the company look at potentially increasing exports to continental Europe, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-08/gazprom-eyes-higher-export-price-as-europe-energy-crisis-deepens

U.S. crude futures topped $80 a barrel for the first time since November 2014 as a global energy crisis boosts demand at a time when OPEC+ producers are keeping supplies tight. A weakening of the dollar on the back of worse-than-expected U.S. labor market data on Friday also boosted the appeal of commodities priced in the currency. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-heading-seventh-weekly-gain-020241456.html

Lebanon has no electricity after the country’s two biggest power stations shut down due to a fuel shortage, a government. The power outage will continue for a few days. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/09/lebanon-hit-by-electricity-outage-expected-to-last-several-days

INDIA - A new challenge has arisen to threaten Delhiites as an issue of intermittent electricity cuts has started looming in the national capital due to a severe shortage of coal in the country. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his intervention in making adequate arrangements of coal and gas to generation plants supplying electricity to the city. https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/use-electricity-judiciously-difficult-days-ahead-for-delhiites-as-national-capital-to-face-power-cuts/ar-AAPj9vK

Industry insiders warn that winter blackouts across the US are possible as low fossil fuel stockpiles may lead to shortages amid heightened demand. The latest concern is ultra-low stockpiles of heating oil (distillate fuel oil). In the winter of 2019–2020, about 5.5 million households used heating oil as their primary heating source, and 81% of those households were in the Northeast. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports there are only 31.2 days of the demand for heating oil, the lowest levels since 2000. https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/us-heating-oil-supplies-lowest-decades-ahead-winter

Supermarket shelves across the UK were stripped bare today after Brits took to stockpiling essential goods as the supply crisis continues. Pictures from stores show empty meat, fruit and frozen food sections as shoppers raided what was left. Throngs of shoppers were spotted pushing trolleys stacked with toilet paper and bottles of water ahead of the festive season. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/16373968/supermarket-shelves-empty-stockpiling-essentials/

One of Uruguay’s top agricultural investors is stepping up its exposure to the sector, betting that a multiyear agricultural commodity uptrend will boost farm revenues and property prices. A financial trust sponsored by Agropecuaria del Litoral raised $100 million this week to buy farmland in the South American country, a major producer of beef, milk, rice and soybeans. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/south-american-fund-buys-more-150402598.html

The proposals for how these CBDCs might work should be enough to raise red flags in even the most trusting of minds. Most people wouldn’t like the idea of the government monitoring “all spending in real-time”, but that’s not the worst of it. By far the most dangerous idea is that any future digital currency should be “programmable”. Meaning the people issuing the money would have the power to control how it is spent. Agustin Carstens, head of Bank for International Settlements -"The key difference [with a CBDC] is that the central bank would have absolute control on the rules and regulations that will determine the use of that expression of central bank liability, and the have the technology to enforce that.” https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/war-cash-endgame-here

Consumers will have to get used to increasing food prices, Kraft Heinz CEO Miguel Patricio has warned. Patricio admitted that the world’s fifth-largest food and beverage company has been raising prices of such products as ketchup and baked beans “where necessary around the world.” Kraft Heinz has reportedly increased prices for more than half of its products in the US, the company’s home market, and expects to do the same elsewhere. https://www.rt.com/business/537163-heinz-boss-food-prices-high/

Aluminum jumped to the highest since 2008 as a deepening power crisis squeezes supplies of the energy-intensive metal that’s used in everything from beer cans to food packaging/preservation. https://www.mining.com/web/aluminum-price-hits-13-year-high-as-energy-surge-pressures-supply/