Posted on 04/25/2008 1:15:39 PM PDT by Red Badger
Despite bumper crops in Vietnam and India, export limits and bans have created a global shortage and driven up prices. At the Costco in San Francisco, rice is all the rage. Not long after the 10 a.m. opening on Apr. 24, the warehouse club was well on its way to selling out the day's supply of Thai jasmine rice. Within an hour, customers cleared three pallets loaded with 50-lb. bags of Super Lucky Elephant brand jasmine rice from Thailand. Real estate broker Mary Jane Galviso snapped up two bagsthe limit imposed by this particular store. "This is very frightening," says Galviso, who hails from Orosi, a rural community in California's Central Valley, more than 200 miles southeast of San Francisco. Her local grocery, which specializes in Filipino foods, has run out of Thai jasmine. In a dramatic development for U.S. consumers this month, shoppers and Asian and Indian restaurant owners started panic-buying two of the highest-premium varieties of riceThai jasmine and Indian basmati. That led many grocers to run out of the rice, and warehouse clubs including Costco and Sam's Club imposed limits on how much rice shoppers can buy. The restrictions placed by Issaquah (Wash.)-based Costco (COST) vary across the country, while Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), limited its customers to four 20-lb. bags of rice. "We've heard of cases where restaurant owners are hoarding three weeks' supply of rice in their basement, which is obviously more than they currently need, which makes the situation even worse," says Richard Galanti, Costco's chief financial officer. Record High Prices for Rice In a statement Apr. 24, Sam's Club said its rice limits "are designed to prevent large distributors or wholesalers from depleting our stock. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Or this stuff..........better to eat styrofoam balls......
Unfortunately, because of Algore's using styrofoam to fake crumbling glaciers in his movie there is also a styrofoam shortage.
That's what we buy, Mahatma. To me it's the best.
LOL!
Dang. I’ve got a large bag of Food Lion store brand long grain rice in my pantry ... am I hopelessly outré? And here I’ve been thinking it was pretty good, boiled up with some red curry or chicken broth, lol.
Yes.
Now, go directly to Piggly Wiggly for quality rice.
We no longer have Piggly Wiggly in this part of NC, or I would. I miss seeing their store circulars, advertising ten pound buckets of chitlins on sale, lol.
We don't have them here anymore either, at least in my part of La.
Who is Styrofoam and why would you rather eat his balls? ... hey its Friday
And the next financial bubble to burst will be the commodities bubble.
The rice shortage is self-correcting. Poor people are eating more rice because they cant afford meat and process foods like noodles. As they shift to a basic diet heavy in rice, the supply of the more expensive foods will go up due to lack of demand. As people start eating more meat and less rice, the price of rice will come down.
The problem is oil, not rice and artificial shortages of food grains created by the Greenies. The oil shortage itself is artificial and is also the Greenies fault.
And the next financial bubble to burst will be the commodities bubble.
The rice shortage is self-correcting. Poor people are eating more rice because they cant afford meat and process foods like noodles. As they shift to a basic diet heavy in rice, the supply of the more expensive foods will go up due to lack of demand. As people start eating more meat and less rice, the price of rice will come down.
The problem is oil, not rice and artificial shortages of food grains created by the Greenies. The oil shortage itself is artificial and is also the Greenies fault.
Did you catch that she bought two 50lb bags? Thats a lotta rice LOL. shortage? I think not.
Yeah, what does a realtor do with 100 lbs. of rice?
Yeah, what does a realtor do with 100 lbs. of rice?
—————————————————————>
Market went south in California so she got in the Wedding Planning business?
I think both are crops that are not seasonal, nor needs rotation.
At least in Japan you will see very square inch of ground that isn't being used for housing used as a rice paddy. I did see, however, more soybean fields recently in Japan.
Its an election year. Just like last election year, the meme is that the economy is in the tank. There are food riots. In Bangla Desh, or somewhere, not here, but there are food riots somewhere, so in journo-propaganda-world, that counts.
Oh, and even in the United States, there is food rationing. Food rationing? I hadn’t noticed, I somehow manage to be at the grocery store half a dozen times a week and didn’t notice we were rationing food. Rice? I’m limited to no more than a hundred pounds? You’re kidding, right? I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything more than a 5 pound bag at one time, so a hundred pound limit doesn’t really strike me as catastrophic.
But, as I say, its election season. So, in bizarro-propaganda world, it counts. Food riots and rationing.
Wow, I can’t decide between the miscellaneous germs or the pig livings bowel or the cowboy meat.
I can’t believe I am still the only one who picked up on and commented on the fact that this lady did a 400 mile round trip to buy rice!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.