An 18-ounce box of corn flakes contains 12.9 ounces of corn. If corn prices rise 50%, and these costs were passed through to the consumer, the price of corn flakes would rise 1.6 cents.
4.1% of U.S. corn is used to make corn syrup. A 2-liter bottle of soda contains 15 counes of corn. A 50% increase in the price of corn raises the price of this bottle of soda (assuming 100% of costs are passed to the consumer) by 1.9 cents.
55% of U.S. corn is used as animal feed.
It takes 7 lbs of corn to produce one lb of beef, 6.5 lbs for a lb of pork, and 2.6 lbs for a lb of chicken.
A 10% increase in the price of corn increases food prices by less than 1%.
-- From Corn Prices Near Record High, But What About Food Costs? by Ephraim Leibtag in Amber Waves.
