Food Rationing in the U.S.?
An interesting report by Reuters news service this week shone a light on the global food world we live in.
The shocking news is that Sam’s Club is limiting purchases of Basmati, Jasmine and long-grain white rice to four bags a customer per visit.
The “per visit” part is a big loophole, but this still sounds kind of crazy in the cornucopia culture of America.
Costco, like Sam’s a seller of bulk food, also announced limits on rice purchases.
The cause of such a move is complicated, but, in essence, demand and prices for imported rice is going through the roof this year. Rice prices are up 68 percent since January.
The global demand for authentic Jasmine rice from Thailand or Basmati rice from India was moderate until not many years ago. But demand has grown a lot , and recent poor yields in that part of the world have caused shortages and all kinds of havoc.
Throw in an all-around spike in world food prices caused by competition with biofuels, market speculation and skyrocketing oil prices, and things get hairy. People have been rioting in the streets in such countries as Pakistan and Haiti over all this.
Also fueling the fire is that exporters in such countries as India and Vietnam are keeping more rice at home to control prices there, a move that just ratchets international demand up even more.
And all of this trickles down to the local Sam’s Club and Costco. Can you believe it?
Part of Sam’s Club’s and Costco’s moves have to do with the fact that people buy rice in bulk there, and store officials apparently have noticed people buying even greater quantities to save a few bucks before prices go up.
The sad, or funny, part of all this is that supplies of U.S. rice are plentiful — and cheaper. Some of us may be settling for “Texmati” — a Texas-grown approximation of Basmati — the next time we want to impress our friends with an “authentic” Indian meal.
(The above photo from The Associated Press shows rice that the Philippine government is preparing to distribute to the poor.)
