Coca Cola takes a 800 million dollar hit on Commodity costs

2. Malthus strikes back: Coca-Cola takes an $800 million hit on commodity costs
Coca-Cola was not alone in facing increasing costs in 2011; one of my clients, Kimberly-Clark, took an earnings hit from record pulp prices. These companies are notable victims of a new reality: resources are constrained and input prices are fundamentally rising. For over 200 years, from Thomas Malthus to the Limits to Growth gang, many people have made the case that it won’t be long before we’ll run out of food, energy, materials, and on and on. It’s an idea that has enthralled many, but has seemed to be wrong. But this year, something felt different as we hit 7 billion hungry, striving humans on the planet. While “running out” isn’t really the right phrase, it’s clear that delivering many commodities to market is getting harder and more expensive (we don’t dig for oil a mile under the ocean for the heck of it). And the dangerous mix of supply crunch and rising demand is only increasing, across nearly all commodities.