From Bangkok to Burbank, soaring rice prices are causing panic among Asians and Asian Americans for whom the grain is a staple of their diet.
World rice prices have skyrocketed 70 percent this year because of a number of factors, including higher energy and fertilizer costs, the loss of rice farmland to biofuel plantations, greater global demand, droughts and poor weather in rice-producing countries, and price speculation.
Asian governments are trying to cushion the blow for millions of people who live below or close to the poverty line.
In Vietnam, crowds flocked to rice markets over the weekend in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s largest city, to stock up on rice as prices soared nearly 100 percent over the last two weeks. “Don’t panic,” read the headline in one Vietnamese daily, as the state media rushed to reassure the populace that the country had enough rice.
Thailand’s prime minister said Tuesday that the country would sell all of its 1.9 million tons of stockpiled rice at a cut price on its domestic market to relieve shortages and try to curb soaring domestic prices. Thailand, the world’s top exporter of rice, has seen its domestic prices surge after India and Vietnam, the world’s number two and three exporters, imposed curbs on shipments to ensure their own supplies and tame inflation.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday urged Filipinos to boil rice with yams or to eat cheaper cereals to avoid going hungry in the face of rising rice prices. The Philippines, one of the world’s biggest rice importers, has been scrambling to boost supplies and get subsidized grains to the poor. It recently announced a plan to issue special cards to allow the poorest families to buy government-subsidized rice.
Meanwhile, in Japan, where rice prices have remained steady, citizens were urged to eat more rice to help boost the percentage of Japan’s food produced at home and protect farmers from cheap imports. The Japanese are eating approximately half as much rice as before, with wheat being the new grain of choice.
The international rice crisis has hit the Bay Area as well. A 20-pound bag of basmati rice at Costco sold for $8.99 just two months ago; today the price is $15.99.
Sam’s Club and Costco, the two biggest U.S. warehouse retail chains, last week began limiting how much rice customers can buy because of what they called “recent supply and demand trends.” Sam’s Club limits customers to four 20-pound bags at a time of imported jasmine, basmati and long-grain white rice. Bags of that size are typically purchased by restaurants and small stores, which may be stockpiling, according to some rice experts.
Last week, Costco sold four times its typical volume of rice in the Western region, which includes California, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Alaska and Hawai‘i.
With some reporting by The Associated Press
BY THE NUMBERS
19.8 pounds of rice consumed annually by Americans
198 pounds of rice consumed annually by Chinese
TOP RICE EXPORTERS
In metric tons; based on 2004 figures
Thailand: 10 million
Vietnam: 4.3 million
India: 3.1 million
Pakistan: 1.9 million
Sources: UNCTAD, USDA
Costco was out last week, but yesterday in Seattle’s Little Saigon, they had piles of 50 lb bags for $45. Told my wife to stand pat and buy some AFTER we use up what we have. My parents bought a freezer for stocking up on meat back in the 70′s beef shortage, but I won’t buy a freezer to fill it with food we won’t get around to eating.