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Panic over rice prices hits Sacramento

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 20th, 2008

Its starting to hit home:

As word of food riots and export shutdowns in Asia reached California in recent weeks, worried shoppers have been buying up hundreds of pounds of rice at a time from the Asian supermarkets that line Stockton Boulevard, looking for security against rising prices.

“When people saw the price jump $2 or $3, they started buying like crazy – 10 bags, 15 bags,” said Cu Van, a floor manager at Goldstar Supermarket. Each bag weighs 50 pounds.

In recent weeks, the retail price for a 50-pound sack of Thai jasmine rice, the prized variety served steamed in Chinese and Southeast Asian cuisine, has risen from roughly $20 to $40, straining budgets for families and restaurants.

The spike in the cost of Thai rice is one of the most extreme examples of a trend that is pushing up prices for all the major globally traded food commodities – rice, wheat, corn, soy and dairy products. Experts say the increases largely have been driven by demand from booming Asian economies combined with poor harvests in key export countries like Australia. The demand for corn and soy to make ethanol and biodiesel also has boosted food prices, though economists disagree on how much.

Rice markets in particular have been jolted as a number of rice-exporting countries have restricted international sales in order to reduce prices for their own citizens.

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