Flakey Price

Talk about your food price inflation - this past week a single corn flake sold for $1350. I am not making this up - the Associated Press reported it, so it must be true.

Now, no one has yet blamed this on ethanol, but the flake was shaped like the state of Illinois, so it is possible that could be the underlying cause. The average retail price for an entire box of corn flakes is only about $3.29 for 18 ounces - with the price of the corn in those flakes less than a nickel. No telling how this will impact the entire cereal market at this point. We could end up mortgaging our homes for a single bowl of flakes for breakfast!

The investor who drove up the price of cereal in this case is Monty Kerr of Austin, Texas who is owner of a trivia Web site. “We’re starting a collection of pop culture and Americana items,” said Kerr.

The sellers were two sisters from Chicago, Melissa and Emily McIntire, who made a pretty healthy return on their $3 investment. They are planning to take a family vacation on the proceeds from the sale.

While they did make quite a killing in the cereal market, they are discouraging competition. “We’re going to encourage people to eat their cereal instead of saving it,” Melissa says.

Nonetheless, owners of other state-shaped flakes are hoping to cash in on the market. Reports are that corn flakes shaped like Hawaii and Virginia are now up for bid. Wonder if the CBOT is considering a corn flake futures contract?