World food prices rose for a fourth straight month in November to remain at 10-year highs, led by strong demand for wheat and dairy products, the U.N. food agency said on Thursday. The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 134.4 points last month compared with a revised 132.8 for October. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/world-food-prices-climb-november-090827861.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr

Singapore - Provisional Uniform Singapore Energy Price jumped S$4,499 ($3,293) per megawatt-hour, the highest on record or about a 1,290% jump in the last few days. All of the natgas is imported from neighboring countries. Singapore's electricity prices are likely to remain elevated as natgas demand continues to strengthen across Europe and the rest of Asia. https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/singapore-power-prices-spike-1290-energy-crisis-emerges

Australian wheat prices surged higher last week after torrential rain in NSW swamped wheat fields waiting to be harvested. ASX wheat futures surged $50 higher to $430 a tonne but lower quality values sunk. Many expect that more than half of the state's wheat harvest will be downgraded to general purpose quality or lower. It's a huge financial penalty for farmers. https://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/7533799/wheat-prices-surge-as-rain-swamps-nsw-crops/?cs=4785

Hackers used the controversial Pegasus spyware from the NSO group to breach nine US State Department employees' iPhones. It isn't known yet who is responsible, but this represents the most critical known cyberattack involving US officials and Pegasus. The spyware uses a zero-click exploit to access an iPhone's texts, photos, and videos to spy on a target. It can even turn on the phone's microphone. It works by sending a compromised message to the target through iMessage and doesn't require the victim to do anything to become infected. https://www.techspot.com/news/92501-pegasus-spyware-found-nine-us-diplomat-phones.html

India - Arabica Parchment coffee price soared to an all-time high of Rs 15,100 per 50-kg bag on Friday in Kodagu and Chickamagalur markets. According to vendors, this was the highest price ever for this coffee variety in 28 years. the heavy snowfall in Brazil, the largest coffee growing country in the world is the reason for soaring prices. It is said that snowfall damaged more than 10 percent of Arabica crop this year and it takes at least 3 to 4 years to recover from the loss.
https://www.thehansindia.com/karnataka/arabica-coffee-price-hits-all-time-high-of-rs-15100-per-50-kg-bag-718131

The number of container ships headed for the busiest U.S. port complex has risen to close to 100 under a new counting method, underscoring the magnitude of the economy-restraining logjam that the Biden administration is trying to help alleviate. New tally totaling 96 ships shows difficulty easing congestion The average ship wait time has risen to almost three weeks. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-04/u-s-ship-logjam-stretching-far-into-pacific-is-longer-than-ever

Moscow and Minsk could decide to be bound by a single currency in an effort to boost trade and strengthen ties between the two members of the so-called Union State, Belarus’ embattled leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has said. “There are no sorts of limits to any process. It sounds philosophical, but it’s true. No limits whatsoever.” https://www.rt.com/russia/541981-moscow-minsk-lukashenko-currency/

Bank Indonesia (BI) – the country’s central bank – noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, locals have switched from cash to digital payments. As such, a CBDC monitored and controlled by the authorities would be the best option for that monetary transition, the institution opined. Bank Indonesia now has another reason to issue a digital rupiah: to “fight” cryptocurrencies which cause a significant impact on the nation’s financial network. Juda Agung – an Assistant Governor at the bank – added that a CBDC is a more reliable option than bitcoin, ether, and the rest of the private digital assets: https://www.bitcoininsider.org/article/137846/bank-indonesia-aims-fight-bitcoin-its-cbdc-report

RUSSIA is discussing setting a quota for the wheat export season that runs from mid-February through June of 9 million tons, according to people familiar with the matter. Russia, one of the world’s biggest wheat exporters, has been taking steps to slow sales abroad to curb domestic food inflation. It’s also introduced a floating tax on grain exports, though the measures have had limited effects on total seasonal volumes. https://www.bworldonline.com/russia-considering-wheat-export-quota-of-9-million-tons/

Cyber-attacks are on the rise in Switzerland with 94 ransomware incidents reported in the first half of the year. The source of that figure is the network supporting investigations against digital crime (NEDIK) but the president of this network believes that the problem is much larger. While Swiss authorities strongly advise against paying hackers, 30 to 50% of hacked companies pay the requested ransom to recover their data. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/ransomware-attacks-on-the-rise-in-switzerland/47164950

TURKEY - ISTANBUL — Lines outside bread stores and gas stations; farmers defaulting on loans; impromptu street demonstrations. The signs of economic distress in Turkey are all too clear as the lira continues a dizzying slide. Sporadic protests have broken out around Turkey and the opposition parties have called for a series of rallies to demand a change of government after the lira crashed sharply last week. The currency has lost more than 45 percent of its value this year, and nearly 20 percent in the last week. https://dnyuz.com/2021/11/30/our-money-has-no-value-frustration-rises-in-turkey-at-lira-crisis/

CHINA - GLOBAL ECONOMY - Evergrande unable to guarantee it can fulfill all financial obligations.

In a sign that Chinese authorities are taking the situation seriously and are moving in to prevent a large fallout on the country’s property sector and overall economy, the central bank announced Monday that it would cut the banks’ reserve requirements. China Evergrande Group lost another fifth of its market value, falling to historic lows Monday after the group acknowledged in a filing that it was on the verge of a restructuring of its massive debt load. https://www.barrons.com/articles/evergrande-stock-fall-after-acknowledging-it-may-not-be-able-to-repay-its-debt-51638788429

USA - An electric utility in Colorado has disclosed an apparent ransomware attack that resulted in significant disruption and damage. They had discovered a breach of its internal network on November 7. The hacker attack resulted in disruption to phone, email, billing, and customer account systems, as well as documents, spreadsheets, and forms getting “corrupted.” DMEA’s CEO told local news outlets that the cyberattack led to 90% of internal controls and systems becoming corrupted, broken or disabled, and claimed that a majority of historical data dating back more than 20 years was lost. https://www.securityweek.com/cyberattack-causes-significant-disruption-colorado-electric-utility

The Central Bank of Bahrain is likely the next to offer a digital currency. The bank plans to offer a digital Dinar, which will come from a digital payments platform available “around the clock,”. There is a conflict being set up between central banks and cryptocurrencies as banks ponder ways to get ahead of a new interest in independent digital coins. https://www.pymnts.com/digital-payments/2021/central-bank-of-bahrain-to-offer-digital-payments-platform/

USA - “The Maryland Security Operations Center is investigating a cyberattack on the Maryland Department of Health,” which went offline this weekend. State officials were coordinating with federal and state law enforcement, and that the investigation is ongoing to determine whether any information had been stolen. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cyberattack-freezes-maryland-health-department/ar-AARuNHd

South Korea - The price of food surged five percent on-year in Korea in the third quarter of the year, the fifth-highest rate of growth in the OECD, according to Statistics Korea on Sunday. That was the steepest rise behind Turkey (27.6 percent), Columbia (11.2 percent), Australia (10.6 percent) and Mexico (eight percent). Korea's overall consumer price index also rose 2.6 percent over the same period, the biggest rate of increase since the first quarter of 2012. http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2021/12/06/2021120600965.html

Australia - The Perth Mint's sales of gold products in November jumped about 94% from the previous month to an eight-month peak, the refiner said. Sales of gold coins and minted bars soared to 115,872 ounces last month, the highest level since March this year, from 59,750 ounces in October, and were up nearly 38% from a year earlier. https://www.mining.com/web/perth-mints-november-gold-sales-nearly-double/

INDIA - PM Modi is all set to launch a digital payment solution, ‘e-RUPI’. ‘e-RUPI’ is a cashless and contactless digital payment instrument, which will be delivered to beneficiaries in the form of a QR code and SMS-string-based voucher. e-RUPI will also serve as a cashless payment solution for Covid-19 vaccination. https://theprint.in/economy/pm-modi-to-launch-e-rupi-a-cashless-contactless-solution-for-leak-proof-welfare-delivery/707664/

UK- More than 300 branches of the convenience store chain Spar in the north of England have been hit by a cyberattack, forcing many of them to close. The attack hit the company’s computer systems, causing a “total IT outage” that has prevented staff from taking card payments and locked them out of emails. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/dec/06/more-than-300-spar-shops-in-north-of-england-hit-by-cyberattack

China- Having sold its Gulfstream Jets, dumped assets (at fire-sale prices), and seen its CEO forced to pledge his Hong Kong mansion as collateral for a loan, it appears - as we warned yesterday - that time is up for Evergrande bond (and stock) holders.
Specifically, offshore (dollar) bondholders did note receive coupon payments by the end of a 30-day grace period, pushing the cash-strapped property developer closer to formal default. And after this missed payment, there are billions more coming due... and soon ($300 billion in total liabilities) https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/evegrande-default-inevitable-sp-warns-chinese-developer-misses-dollar-bond-payments

Europe’s energy crunch is set to last as electricity prices climb to a record, fueling inflation and raising bills for millions of households and industries across the continent. Power prices for delivery next year surged almost 11% in Germany and 7.7% in France as freezing weather has forced European utilities to burn more gas, coal and even oil to keep the lights on. High prices this month are spilling into futures contracts for the following years, a sign that the crunch could last longer than many expected. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-08/energy-crunch-sends-benchmark-european-power-prices-to-record