Rice Shortage?

Hi all,
not sure if this is in the right subforum, but it looks like the place. My apologies to the mods if I am mistaken.
Okay, I have a question for the forum.
Is there or is there not an impending rice shortage?
Here are the reasons for my suspicion. I'm in charge of all of the decent ethnic cooking (Japanese and Persian dishes) in my house. Therefore I am responsible for keeping our kitchen stocked with the necessary ingredients. Last time I was at Meijer I was going to get a bag of basmati. A 20 lb. bag. Instead they were selling 10 lb. bags for the same price a 20 lb. bag was going for. They didn't even have any 20 lb. bags.
A 100% price jump.
Second, yesterday my wife went into town and I asked for a bag of japonica rice (I'm disabled so often I can't go myself). She returned with a 10 lb. bag of Kagayaki Select.
10 lbs. I didn't even know japonica rice came in such a small bag. She dropped 20 clams for the bag.
I have never seen rice, even good new harvest japonica cultivars, go for that price. It should have been a 20 lb. bag for that price, which it was last time I visited the Asian market.
Another 100% increase in price, for a different rice strain.
So naturally it occurs to me that there might be something up with the rice crop from last/this year, and since rice is an important staple, this has the potential to put a lot of people in a bind.
Am I being paranoid? Has anypony else noticed this happening where they live, or is it just a Midwest US phenomenon?
Does anypony know whether there is indeed a rice shortage in the offing?
Okay thanks bye.

Really?
Nopony on this entire forum eats rice?

To me, at first glance your post looks like spam lol. I haven't noticed any rice shortage where I live. Supermarkets are packed with rice.

Yeah, spammers advertise rice all of the time. I should have thought of that.
What about the price?

There has not been a change in the price of rice in Southern Oregon, but I buy mine at Costco. HOWEVER. I googled it real quick and yes - some people are predicting a rice shortage.

Thanks everypony (and by everypony I mean you, forgotten Duo).
Maybe I'll take the opportunity to stock up soon. It won't hurt the basmati, though I'll have to rotate the japonica rice if I want to keep it fresh.

I-what?

I'm pretty sure lots of people on this forum eat rice.

I am also pretty sure none of us a rice gurus keeping tabs on the economic stability of rice.

An individual doesn't have to be a "rice guru," they just have to have
1) been paying attention at the cash register,
OR
2) have heard something from someone who maybe is a rice guru--like an industry expert or a news report--which is suggestive of a shortage.
It is, therefore, entirely reasonable for me to pose this question to the forum.

How soon is this shortage?

I bet it's rice kitty's fault!

http://i.imgur.com/8qLsCXF.gif

http://i.imgur.com/XWcnoLH.gif

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Originally Posted by Jean Markale

Nopony

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http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdo8k...p0vno1_400.gif

>.>; No links, slightly misleading title, but at least you aren't advertising....


Yes, apparently due to chaos in Sri Lanka and a drought in Australia, among other things, there is a slight shortage of rice. But due note that some of the articles in google are a few years old or more. I even went with "Rice Shortage 2014"...


P.S. Changing the title to better fit the topic.

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Originally Posted by Jean Markale

everypony

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You must be a fan of littlest pet shop.


Truth be told they don't sell rice where I live, they sell it about an hour away.

This doesn't make any sense, rice comes from supermarkets.
Not from the mid west.

haha literally who cares

Those of us who want to eat, maybe?

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Originally Posted by Jean Markale

Those of us who want to eat, maybe?

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Really? Have you considered eating ... something else? Like, potatoes? Or meat? Or salad?

Or are you some sort of Martian that requires copious amounts of rice as sustenance otherwise you'll shrivel up into your primitive parents' shrunken, dried-grape-like form?

There's more to life than rice, kiddo. Prices rise. It's also known as 'inflation'. Want me to hammer on about how a Mars bar cost 30p five years ago but now they cost 65-75p? Is there a Mars bar shortage because the price has doubled but the Mars bars have gotten smaller? Should I start a panic and stockpile an army of Mars bars for the inevitable snack-bar famine of 2015?

I was formerly unaware that the prices of commodities rise regularly by 100%. I've only been paying attention for nineteen years, so I must lack experience in these areas.
And yes, rice is actually considered a staple in many places. No-one is suggesting that it is the only source of nourishment, but it is an important one, and therefore price is a consideration. If you don't care about rice, specifically--and it is apparent from the above that you do not--then why post in a thread about whose subject you don't care one way or another? Some Ponies.

Gotta have that rice bruuuuhh-chan. Can't live without it

http://media.giphy.com/media/95iOLEQA2PGGA/giphy.gif

I haven't eaten rice in like five years, it can't be that important.

Not important enough that I'd register on an anime forum JUST to ask about it, anyway. ¬_¬

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Originally Posted by Jean Markale

Maybe I'll take the opportunity to stock up soon.

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You may or may not be familiar with the 2008 global rice crisiswiki; but anyways, during that time there was indeed a restriction on rice exports (among other foods) due to sharp rises in global oil prices. However, supermarket-end prices on imported rice was mostly a response to people basically panic-buying in response to unreliable media reports, trying to get rice relatively cheap before prices rose even further. However, this response served only to further increase the gap between supply and demand, so further raised prices anyway, which further inflated fear of supply shortages; so more panic-buying, so more supply issues, so more price rises--you get the picture. In short, stocking up big allows you to buy a relatively cheap bag of rice today in exchange for more expensive bag of rice tomorrow. If you intend to "stock up" big due to predicted rice shortages, I strongly advise you think about the long-term consequences before you commit to that decision.

By the way, myself and my family do consume rice as a staple food, and we grow, produce, or buy much of our essentials locally and in bulk. The restriction on rice exports in 2008 did not affect us so much because we had already bought several years' supply of rice in advance (which is normal for us). We don't panic-buy, but we do consider the global economic situation of certain imported foods before replenishing stock; that way we're more prepared for that "rainy day", when it happens. But there's a difference between being vigilant and outright panic-buying, and we're more than prepared to turn to other staple foods if we find ourselves in a position where we can no longer afford rice.

Going back to the article on the 2008 global rice crisis, it's interesting to note that despite higher global oil prices and considerably lower crop yields (especially in Australia), there was no real global rice shortage. The perceived "shortage" was mostly down to state-imposed export restrictions (due to high oil prices) and market-driven fear of not meeting global demand (due to prolonged droughts and unpredictable weather patterns). Another note is that rice can be grown almost anywhere in any country; but since markets tend to source other countries for rice where labour is much cheaper (China for instance), many "developed" countries mostly rely on imported rice. At the end of the day, imported goods are a luxury; there's no obligation for certain countries to export their produce for consumption by other countries, especially before the nutrition welfare of their own people.

There's nothing wrong with being concerned over restricted supplies and raised prices of staple foods; however, going so far as to stockpile a certain produce for those reasons exclusively is like saying that you're entitled to more of that produce than others. A more ethical approach would be to ration your consumption of that produce and consider substitute produce instead (many of which have already been suggested); otherwise you contribute to further inflation, which cripples people on the lowest of incomes, and may negatively affect you in the long term.

Thanks for that. I hardly think, however, that one person purchasing twenty bags of rice for his family is going to topple the market. I believe that some of the other conclusions you have somehow extrapolated from my post are also unrealistic.[COLOR="Silver"]

---------- Post added at 05:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:52 PM ----------

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Originally Posted by Ranshiin

I haven't eaten rice in like five years, it can't be that important.

Not important enough that I'd register on an anime forum JUST to ask about it, anyway. ¬_¬

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If you think I registered here just to ask about rice, you have clearly not looked below my avatar to see my post count, which far exceeds the number of posts I have made in this thread, or my join date, which predates the start of this thread, or for that matter my intro thread, in which I enumerated the animes I love and what I hoped to learn here, to which you apparently also do not recall having posted a reply.

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Originally Posted by Jean Markale

If you think I registered here just to ask about rice, you have clearly not looked below my avatar to see my post count, which far exceeds the number of posts I have made in this thread, or my join date, which predates the start of this thread, or for that matter my intro thread, in which I enumerated the animes I love and what I hoped to learn here, to which you apparently also do not recall having posted a reply.

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I'm sorry, I think I'm pretty sure I did in fact welcome you to the site. I'm regrettably usually fairly busy during weekdays, but I at the least try to leave a greeting message to newcomers ... >_>

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Originally Posted by Jean Markale

I hardly think, however, that one person purchasing twenty bags of rice for his family is going to topple the market.

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Nor do I actually. However, has it not occurred to you that other consumers might be having the same fears as you and therefore might already be doing the same thing?

So a rice shortage has been predicted; well, what do you intend to do about it? Buy more rice in advance than usual to avoid further inflation down the line? (Can't think of any other reason why you'd do this) If so, consider that others may well follow suit, contribute to further inflation anyway, and eventually you will pay the price for saving money, one way or another.

It's your call though: I merely pointed out the potential consequences regarding what could happen if, among enough other consumers, you stockpiled out of fear of shortage of some staple food. Of course, as a consumer, you've every right to buy as much rice as the market's willing to supply; and if you so do at some point, fine; I just hope you don't publicly complain about the consequences afterwards. In any case, you seem pretty concerned about the current supply and price of rice right now, that much is clear. That, and the vibe I got from some of your posts is why I bought up the likely consequences of panic-buying, that's all.

Is this real life?