Water the most traded commodity

[arunmrao]

An interesting news report though not directly related to materials I wish to present a news item.(Please bear with me and do not flag it!!).

It mentions that water is the most traded commodity.It is traded 300 times more than crude oil. Virtual water is the amount of water used in producing an industrial or agricultural product.

for eg. virtual water to produce a few commodities is listed

1 kilo wheat 1200 litres

1 kilo rice 2700 litres

1 kilo coffee 21000 litres

1 cup of coffee 140 litres

1 cup of tea 17.5 litres


US is the leading exporter of water in the world. A little known fact but not appreciated by many of us.

 

[rmw]

While it may take that much water to grow, and process the commodity listed, by the time it is exported, very little of that water remains in the material.

I would be curious as to the same presentation for the energy content, most of which is in the form of fossil fuels "in the commodity" when exported from a developed country.

So, user would be a more appropriate term than exporter in this news account, to me, anyway.

rmw

 

[IRstuff]

What might be interesting is to come up with the water usage efficiency, e.g., ratio of water used to product produced.

The downside is that we'll probably have the water police knocking on our doors to confiscate water-gluttonous products

TTFN