Heard on CNBC a few nights ago from anchor Larry Kudlow regarding the recent earthquakes in Japan:

"I mean, the human — the human toll here looks to be much worse than the economic toll, and we can be grateful for that..."

Mr. Kudlow probably didn’t quite realize how awful that sounds…but he might not have been right, either. It appears that Mr. Kudlow may have spoken too soon. In fact, prices on several commodity futures have dropped significantly in the wake of the Japanese earthquakes, tsunamis and now nuclear accidents. According to Bloomberg (15 March):

"Wheat fell to a four-month low, and corn and soybeans tumbled on concern that the earthquake and nuclear crisis in Japan will reduce raw-material demand."

Here's the fact: Corn (maize) is the biggest crop in the U.S. (to the tune of just under $67 billion) - and Japan is the world's biggest buyer of this particular commodity. At the Chicago Board of Trade, corn futures tumbled by .30 cents to $6.36 a bushel (that's the CBOT limit, by the way – it could have gone down further). At the same time, Japan's largest purchaser of maize, Zen-Noh, has announced that it is cutting its order by 24%.

Other commodities aren't faring so well, either. Wheat and soybean futures also took a heavy hit, falling to their lowest levels in several months. Seems as though our friends over in the Land of the Rising Sun have bigger issues to deal with – and meanwhile, the commodity traders over here are dumping their contracts right and left, further driving down prices.

If there is a silver lining to all of this, perhaps it is that low-income people in the developing world (and increasingly, right here in the USA) may finally start seeing a little relief when it comes to food prices that have been skyrocketing in recent months – and hitting hardest the people who can least afford it.