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|  Segment# |

| 6 |

| Location |

|  |

|  Date |

| 2/20/2008 |

| |

|  Story Name |

| THE ECONOMY WHEAT PRICES |

| |

|  Notes |

|  |

| |

|18:50:57 CHARLES GIBSON |

|(VO) Consumer prices jumped four-tenths of a percent in January, higher |

|than economists expect period. The cost of food and fuel are the reasons. |

|In the past 12 months, prices have risen 4.3%. |

|18:51:07 CHARLES GIBSON |

|(OC) And one of the ways you're surely feeling the effects of inflation |

|is in the price of bread and pancakes and pasta, anything made with wheat. |

|GRAPHICS: WINTER WHEAT |

|18:51:15 CHARLES GIBSON |

|(VO) Today a bushel sold for $10.33, more than double what it costs a |

|year ago. |

|18:51:20 CHARLES GIBSON |

|(OC) As ABC's Sharyn Alfonsi reports, consumers are eating those higher |

|prices. |

|18:51:26 SHARYN ALFONSI, ABC NEWS |

|(VO) Bakery owner Pam Weeks is counting every pinch of flour and watching |

|every penny. |

|18:51:31 PAM WEEKS, BAKERY OWNER |

|It's just unbelievable how much the price of flour went up overnight, |

|literally. |

|18:51:35 SHARYN ALFONSI |

|(VO) Just a few weeks ago, these 50 pound bags of flour cost $15, today |

|they're $40. |

|18:51:42 PAM WEEKS |

|We're trying to figure out ways to cope with that. But it's to the point |

|now, where we have no choice. We're going to have to raise prices. |

|GRAPHICS: LESS WHEAT PLANTED |

|18:51:50 SHARYN ALFONSI |

|(VO) Blame it on the price of wheat. Demand for alternative energies has |

|farmers planting less wheat and more corn, the key ingredient of ethanol. |

|Add the growing appetite for wheat from developing countries and the |

|supply is strained. US wheat stock piles have hit a 60-year low. And |

|wheat prices have never been higher. |

|18:52:12 SHARYN ALFONSI |

|(OC) That means the cost of pasta has doubled and that loaf of bread, |

|it'll cost you an extra 20 cents. Economists say it is the fastest rising |

|rate of food inflation in nearly 15 years. |

|18:52:24 SHARYN ALFONSI |

|(VO) The price spike is being felt across the globe. In Italy, the cost |

|of pasta is spiraling, up 20%. Malaysia is no longer allowing anyone to |

|take flour out of the country. And in Pakistan, they're now stock piling |

|wheat and using its military to guard flour mills. |

|18:52:44 VIC LESPINASSE, GRAIN ANALYST |

|As long as this strong foreign demand continues and as long as the demand |

|for ethanol continues to grow very rapidly, there doesn't seem to be any |

|end in sight. |

|18:52:54 SHARYN ALFONSI |

|(VO) Putting wheat farmers, like Joe Care, in an unusual position, the |

|driver's seat. |

|18:52:59 JOE KEJR, KANSAS WHEAT GROWER |

|It is real exciting to see where the prices are, prices that I have not |

|seen in my lifetime. |

|18:53:06 SHARYN ALFONSI |

|(VO) The world hunger for ethanol is changing the landscape of America. |

|Pam Weeks wonders if the price will curb our appetite. Sharyn Alfonsi, |

|ABC News, New York. |

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