By James K. Glassman
From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
In a terrible time for most stocks, a few sectors have done awfully well. One of them: food.
Archer-Daniels-Midland, the giant food-processing company, surged 39.7 percent in 2022, and General Mills returned 27.6 percent. Indeed, the food sector—which includes agriculture, manufacturing, packaged goods and grocers—has outperformed the averages.
But let’s consider why food stocks have risen and whether the phenomenon is temporary.
Food companies have recently benefited from three factors: drought, war in Ukraine and COVID-19. The western half of the United States has been experiencing a long-term lack of rain. China is also suffering, and half of Europe is drier than it has been since the Renaissance….