U.S. Consumers Fear Rice Shortage

GLOBAL RICE SHORTAGE TRIGGERS FEARS IN U.S.
U.S. consumers fearing potential rice shortages worldwide are clamoring to stores to stockpile this staple item. In reaction to this trend, two of the largest big box stores in the U.S., Costco and Sam's Club are putting limits on the amount of rice that can be purchased by an individual member.

MINIMIZE RICE HOARDING
To prevent panicky U.S. customers in fear of a rice shortage from completely depleting their inventory, Costco is limiting rice purchases to the amount previously purchased by a customer by looking at their previous buying history which is stored in conjunction with their membership card. Sam's Club in an article on Yahoo.com "Sam's Club, Costco limit rice purchases as prices rise" reports customers can only buy four 20-pound bags of imported jasmine, basmati and long grain white rice.

WHY DO U.S. CONSUMERS FEAR A RICE SHORTAGE?
"Rising fuel prices, drought" and "more demand for food in China and India and other emerging nations" combined with the "trend of using crops for biofuel rather than food" have continued to escalate prices of staple grains such as rice, wheat and corn according to an article in MercuryNews.com. Rice costs three times as much as before as reported in "Global rice shortage hits wallets in Silicon Valley" by MercuryNews.com. In this same article, an expert at the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports Vietnam and India are imposing restrictions and even bans on rice exports.

AS AN ASIAN AMERICAN AM I WORRIED ABOUT A U.S. RICE SHORTAGE?
For long as I have known, rice has always been one of the cheapest items to purchase. So when rice prices are reported to be three times as much, yes, I'm somewhat alarmed but not to the point that I feel the need to store a large cache. I grew up on short grain Japanese rice, with my family specifically favoring "Kokuho Rose" rice. But as an adult I am partial to fragrant long grain rice. I recently went out to purchase rice and noticed the store house brand of short grain rice was way cheaper than the long grain rice. But, even though it was about three times more expensive, I could not resist the fragrant long grain jasmine rice. Apparently many U.S. consumers share my love of jasmine and basmatic rice. As more consumers get exposed to different types of cuisine, it is changing the demand for jasmine and basmati rice in the U.S.

CIGARETTES, GAS & RICE
Cigarette prices continue to escalate and despite the known health risks it seems to not have curbed any addictions. Gas is even crazier but people are still filling their tanks. Although it is likely rice will potentially be in limited supply or be more expensive, it seems U.S. consumers who fear a rice shortage need not panic at this point and it is such manic buying that will drive the price of this staple commodity unnecessarily higher. For now, I will continue to happily fill my belly and pantry with rice.

SOURCES:
"Global rice shortage hits wallets in Silicon Valley", Ken McLaughlin, MercuryNews.com, 4/24/08
"Sam's Club, Costco limit rice purchases as prices rise", Marcus Kabel, Associated Press on Yahoo.com, 4/24/08