The news is filtering through the nation “Rice Shortage!”
Because of the astronomic price of gasoline that keeps moving upwards, talk of “recession” (or “Depression”), etc. this combination of news has the potential to spread panic.
And the fact that the “stimulus payments” are going out in the mail soon and everyone knows they’re a joke that will just go into the coffers of the people sucking us dry at the pumps (which we’ve no discovered frequently overcharge us to boot!)
What’s really going on?
Business Week has a good article on the subject. Why is there a rice shortage? First, it’s not all the rice… just the premium Thai Jasmine and Indian Basmati rice versions.
There’s currently no shortage of rice. “Vietnam and Thailand have had record rice crops in the past year, and India too has had bumper crops,” says Nathan Childs, a senior economist who follows the global rice market at the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Agriculture Dept.
Instead, what’s driving the price of rice so high are widespread worries about food inflation in many rice-growing nations. “In poorer nations, a large share of people’s earnings is spent on food, and big price increases in other kinds of food are harming consumers,” Childs says. So to protect their supplies of rice—a staple food in much of the world—several countries have imposed export bans or sharp limits. That has led to a sharp reduction of rice available for trade in the global market. In 2007, India and Vietnam, two of the world’s biggest rice exporters, reduced their rice shipments. Since then, Cambodia, Egypt, and Brazil have all halted rice exports. And many observers worry that Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter, might jump on the bandwagon.
But if you don’t mind eating plain old Arkansas rice, for instance, there’s no shortage of these “non gourmet” types of rice from what we can see right now.
The Philippines is stockpiling rice because they are afraid of a shortage despite bumper crops and West Coast families who eat rice at 3 meals per day are buying up the Jasmin and Basmati rice while many restaurants seem to be stockpiling the “best” rice too.
It’s not a signal that there’s a food shortage per se - just a shortage of this gourmet variety.
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