Sam's Club, Costco are rationing rice
Posted
Apr 23 2008, 08:45 PM
by
Karen Datko
Shades of World War II: Two warehouse-type retail chains in the United States are rationing rice as anxious customers stock up because of a worldwide shortage.
It's the most startling sign that the world food crisis is making itself felt in the United States. But, despite rising food prices here, we've still got it good compared with some developing countries, where food shortages and price hikes have sparked deadly riots.
"Based on a very rough analysis, we estimate that a doubling of food prices over the last three years could potentially push 100 million people in low-income countries deeper into poverty," World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick said recently. He has called for a "New Deal for Global Food Policy."
Likely because of customer hoarding, Sam's Club has imposed a limit on bulk purchases of rice. Customers can purchase no more than four 20-pound or larger bags of jasmine, basmati and long-grain white rice per visit. (A similar move is not planned for other Wal-Mart-owned stores.) Some Costco stores have imposed restrictions on bulk sales of rice and flour.
This prompted Baltimore Sun blogger Jay Hancock to write: "Food hoarding in the United States? Rice-purchase controls at Sam's Club? Get ready to unfurl your rationing coupons and plant a Victory Garden. What is the world coming to?"
The price of rice rose 10% last month in the U.S., which exports about half of its rice crop and where the supply is stable. Not so in the rest of the world.
U.N. World Food Program executive director Josette Sheeran said the price of rice has more than doubled in seven weeks. At a London conference on the world food crisis, she warned of a "silent tsunami" that threatens 20 million poor children, according to The Associated Press.
The AP says it's the "first global food crisis since World War II." Why is this happening? Experts blame high fuel costs, an emphasis on biofuels to the detriment of food production, extreme weather, and changing diets in India and China. Some rice-producing countries have also cut back on exports.
According to the AP, "Evolving diets among burgeoning middle classes in India and China will help double the demand for food -- particularly grain-intensive meat and dairy products -- by 2030, the World Bank says."
