Sam's Club, Costco limit rice purchases as prices rise - Apr. 23, 2008
Rice sale restrictions to have little immediate impact - Apr. 24, 2008
Sam's Club and Costco limited purchases of rice I think mostly because of small businesses stocking up in anticipation of even higher prices. Prices of rice on the chicago commodities market hit record highs the other day. How serious is the price of rice? One billion people, one out of every 6 people in the world, depend on rice as much as you think Italians depend on wheat (think pasta!) And the Italians protested prices of pasta last year. In Mexico 70,000 people demonstrated because the price of corn tortillas has increased so much. It turned into a riot among some. Haiti had riots just a few days ago.
China has price controls on rice so that the price is relatively affordable and the stomachs are full, but I think they have had price controls for years. Hungry people lead to wars and governments toppled. A failed harvest here or there and prices skyrocket, add in high oil prices for fuel and fertilizer and there will be starvation. India, Vietnam, the Philappines, Indonesia have banned almost all rice exports. Thailand the world's biggest exporter of rice so far hasn't. I think they said the price of rice has TRIPLED since January.
The prices of basic foodstuffs has increased worldwide. The price of wheat over 100%, a doubling, since last year. The Ukraine and Russia have effectively banned wheat exports by adding a 40% tax to all exports. Brazil or Argentina has banned wheat or rice exports. In Peru soldiers are now eating potato bread.
Corn (maize) prices are high too, and this when the largest corn grower, the USA, has had record/near record harvests. Thank ethanol made from corn for that. More corn goes into the tank instead of the belly of you, or farm animals. Higher meat, egg and dairy prices result. If a farmer in the USA can plant corn or wheat in his field, he'll plant what gives the higher price. Combine less acres for wheat, a diminished harvest in Australia because of drought, floods in Argentina, and bingo the price of food goes up.
We're turning to ethanol made from corn to power our cars. Archer-Daniels Midland, ADM is a very large political contributor, with their campaign donations they have supported ethanol subsidies for years. Quick, who's the largest ethanol producer? I can think of studies showing ethanol actually has a negative effect on imported oil. Most studies show a 1.2 to 1.8 gain in energy. For ever one gallon of oil you get about a gallon and a quarter of ethanol. Brazil and sugarcane ethanol is much much more efficient, with a 6:1 or 8:1 ratio. The other year President Bush mentioned cellulosic ethanol and it does hold promise. That converts the woody parts of plants by breaking down the odd sugars in plants, like xylitol. In Europe they are growing rapeseed for biodiesel. Rapeseed better known as Canola Oil in the USA. Soybeans can be made into biodiesel as well. Germany has scaled back a mandate of biodiesel from 3% to 1%.
STOP BIOFUELS (ok my little rant is over)
If you live in America or Canada you spend as little as 10% of your income on food. Europe it's slightly higher, 15% overall. Some in the third world spend 80% of their income on food. The Chinese spend on avarage 30-50% on food.
What can I say I spent waaaaayyy too much time on Yahoo video, watching the news reports from the BBC, CNN, and Reuters. And that's where I got most of the info you see in my post.
