Steamed over the Price of Rice??

[Stan]

What's up with the panic over the price of rice? Looking for a technical answer.

If the responses include the democrate, the republicians, the jesuits or the pope. Someone will have to stand in the corner for 4 days..

This seems to be causing panic here, there and everywhere...

[Dr. Shane]

I think that since it is cheaper to plant corn and then when harvested, the farmer makes more money, that more rice growers are planting corn so we have a rice shortage.

This is a serious problem for the third world where rice is a staple in their diet. Wheat growers are also growing corn instead of wheat so look for the price of bread and spaghetti to increase too.

[CyberGuy]

No according to New magazines I get it is because rice crop failures in India due to the high Polution of from the cities has killed the budding Rice crops. India has put a ban an exports of rice. India being the major exporter of rice this hurts the entire region. Philipines and Thailand and Indonesia and Vietnam all depend on rice imports and they have also put a ban on rice exports.

Then some greedy exporters have been hoarding the rice to drive up the rice prices so they bought cheap and will sell higher.

All this has compounded the problem.

Also because corn has been used to make ethonol in the USA and Brazil this has put a price hike on corn.

Also as the same time a fungus that attacks wheat has spread from Argentina to East Africa to Egypt and will spread by winds to Israel and Syria and all the middle east and to China it is estimated within two years. With time they will make a Wheat crop that will be resistant to this fungus but this endangers our wheat crop and creates shortages of Wheat. So far the US wheat crop is not affected YET.

All this compounds the problem of a world wide food shortage and driving up prices of food over the entire planet.

[Amelia]

**GP**

Flour prices have doubled since last month.

[Stan]

HMmm

what is

**GP**

?

[Amelia]

**General Post**

[Planey]

HMmm

what is

**GP**

?

As Amelia said it is shorthand for General Post.

However it is also my initials so it grabs my attention everytime!

Graeme

[CyberGuy]

**GP**

Flour prices have doubled since last month.

Which explains why the price of my bread has gone up so much.

I have a bread maker machine. I think I will start using it. All one has to do is put in the water and yeast and sugar and flour and it mixes the flour and yeast and lets it rise and then bakes it. Cheaper than store bought bread

[CyberGuy]

A lot of these doubling in prices is the fault of speculators who buy oil and wheat and rice and hold them expecting the price to rise. It does and they sell for a tidy profit at the expense of our own pocketbooks.

[LynnDel]

The rice growers in my area aren't complaining. For the past two weeks, pillars of dust have filled the sky above the rice fields and spread over the whole valley in a realistic imitation of smog as tractors prepare the ground for planting.

Here are a couple of articles about California rice:

Tight world grain supplies and a weak U....heir rice crop.

Higher rice prices help farmers offset i...the price rise.

[Amelia]

**GP**

Rice price set to skyrocket

Dispatch Online, South Africa

2008/04/26

THE price of rice will rise dramatically in the next two months. This is after the price of the staple grain more than doubled over the last three months due to export bans in India and Pakistan.

South Africa imports all of its rice supplies. The Chamber of Milling’s chief executive officer Jannie de Villiers says: “We have seen India and I think Pakistan, and some other rice supplier countries. They have put an export ban on it, to ensure that they have enough locally, so for South Africa this is bad news in terms of rice prices.

“At the moment I don’t think it’s a huge crisis. We’re not running out of stock , but I think we will definitely see huge increases coming to the consumer shelves in the next two months.”

Meanwhile, two major US bulk retailers – Sam’s Club and Costco – have started rationing the sale of large bags of rice to consumers . Both companies insist they have plenty of rice but the measure appears aimed at preventing over- stocking among customers concerned by the surging prices of commodities worldwide.

The World Bank warned this month that the higher food prices could push 100 million people in poorer developing countries further into poverty. — Sapa-AFP

[Amelia]

Editorial: Global food scare

Business Standard

New Delhi

April 27, 2008

It is not often that grocery stores in the developed countries have to resort to rationing rice, bread, milk, eggs and the like. But that is what is reported to be happening today in the US, the world's biggest producer and exporter of food, as also in Japan, the world's largest food importer. Though the immediate reason for such an unusual situation is believed to be panic buying by consumers, the underlying cause is supply constraints which have found a reflection in sharply rising prices. The problem can be traced back to last year's global commodity price explosion, which had pushed up the prices of most food products (and of non-agricultural commodities too) to record levels. Global food stocks had dwindled and exports supplies had shrunk. A unique feature of this situation was that it did not distinguish between rich and poor countries, and hurt consumers equally badly in both. In the US, which is used to inflation of no more than 3 per cent at most times, bread prices rose in 2007 by about 12 per cent and milk by 29 per cent. The rise in the prices of wheat and rice, the staple food of in the developing countries, was equally steep � rice prices doubled � leading to food riots in several countries in Africa and elsewhere. Corn prices have in fact gone up even more than wheat, and have almost matched the record for rice.

This inflationary phase lasted longer than past price surges, bucking the long-term trend whereby the bearish phase for agricultural prices usually lasts longer than the duration of bull runs. The chief reason was the prolonged droughts in some major food producing countries, notably Australia, and more frequent cyclones and harsh weather cycles in many parts of the globe, adversely affecting crop output. The fact that traditional grain exporters like Ukraine imposed export curbs did not help matters, while the diversion of up to 20 per cent of US corn production to ethanol plants added to the overall problem. Strangely, this price balloon burst with a bang in the third week of March when global commodity prices witnessed one of the biggest weekly drops, of as much as 9.2 per cent. Though prices have remained volatile, they have mercifully not gone back to the pre-March peaks.

Nevertheless, the adverse impact of the commodity boom on food availability and prices, especially at the retail level, has tended to linger even after international prices have dropped back to more reasonable levels. This is borne out by the current situation in the US and Japan though global prices of wheat, rice, oilseeds and some other products have clearly softened. The uncertainty about availability seems to be prompting the frantic rush to retail stores, and may be the result of curbs put on food product exports by several traditional food-exporting countries which have tried to build up domestic stocks in order protect their domestic consumers. Restrictions on rice exports by China, India, Thailand, Vietnam and some others are cases in point.

Lastly, and significantly, the looming threat to global food security that recent developments point to comes not so much from concerns about food production as from the rising prices of crude oil, which are prompting the diversion of vital grains to biofuel production. This has severely distorted the global market of this coarse cereal, which constitutes a key food item as well as feed crop in several parts of the world. While a global food scarcity is a scary phenomenon, especially for poor countries with large populations, India can fortunately draw comfort from the fact its domestic food scene is looking far more comfortable now, after the rabi harvest, than it has been for the past few years, even though food prices are still a matter of concern. Though India is now being accused, along with other countries that have imposed export curbs, of turning hoarders, it is far easier to live with that tag than to face the prospect of slipping back to ship-to-mouth existence once again.

[Amelia]

Thai rice export curbs would make no sense-analysts

Access to food ... denied

Rising price of rice sparks fears over supply, security

Rice and Wrong: Food Costs Flummox

What's going on with rice and flour?

[Dr. Shane]

We need to bring the price of energy down. I don't know how else to do that other than drilling in new areas, like Anwar, off-shore (US), and converting coal to oil. It is not a long term energy answer but we need answers now. People are dying of starvation.

[Stan]

We need to start a boycott rice blog or something, doubling the price of rice will not hurt us that much, BUT it will cause starvation in some areas.

[Nan]

This might act to accelerate what they are calling SRI in Indonesia - system of rice intensification. It is a new method of growing rice which produces more rice from less seed and uses less water. The fields are not flooded. My stepson is heavily involved in promoting this project in SE Asia. Details are available on the Cornell University website. ADRA Indonesia was involved in this some years ago but unfortunately did not feel able to continue their involvement. In the last year the project has received the direct support of the Indonesian President, who I believe has agricultural qualifications.

[Naomi]

Yes, it is a serious issue in some countries. It was already really hurting the people in the Philippines last month. With only the promise of getting worse. So sad!

A boycott on rice would be a good thing!

[Stan]

just bought the domain name... it will take 24 hours to show up, not sure what to do to make it work best

:)

[Dr. Shane]

Rice, beans and corn are staples in the diet where I live. I don't think many people would be willing to go without them.

[Naomi]

They have been for me in reacent times. Guess I'll have to start eating .......... Meat

[CyberGuy]

They have been for me in reacent times. Guess I'll have to start eating .......... Meat

What do you think they feed those cows? Grass???? No it is grains and corn. Higher food prices affect cattle prices to. Expect meat prices to double soon as well. Sorry about that.

[CyberGuy]

The rice growers in my area aren't complaining. For the past two weeks, pillars of dust have filled the sky above the rice fields and spread over the whole valley in a realistic imitation of smog as tractors prepare the ground for planting.

Here are a couple of articles about California rice:

Tight world grain supplies and a weak U....heir rice crop.

Higher rice prices help farmers offset i...the price rise.

The problem is in specialty rice like Jasmine rice which is grown in Thailand. California rice just does not fit certain dishes that fits the oreintal taste buds.

[Stan]

Ironic... I have never seen a site come up so fast...

http://boycottrice.com/

Now I need a theme.... can anyone please help choose one or 5?

http://themes.wordpress.net/

[Naomi]

Originally Posted By: Naomi

They have been for me in reacent times. Guess I'll have to start eating .......... Meat

What do you think they feed those cows? Grass???? No it is grains and corn. Higher food prices affect cattle prices to. Expect meat prices to double soon as well. Sorry about that.

Details, details ... OK ... lettuce and the healthy stuff

[CyberGuy]

I read today that the USA produces 90 percent of its own rice consumption and exports 50 percent of its rice crop to other countries. The only imports the USA does is specialty rices like Jasmine rice and others for special oreintal dishes.

So although the US will be affect by the world wide price of rice we will never have a real shortage of rice unless sellers would rather sell overseas than to our own people. That remains to be seen.