has the price of rice gone up?

The price of rice has absolutely gone up worldwide. There is a growing shortage, and several Asian countries have implemented export bans.

http://business.smh.com.au/rice-shortage-bites/20080407-246n.html

I'd imagine that you can freeze it for a few years. most grains and dry goods will go stale after awhile but, after growing up in humid and bug laden miami beach, I've learned that you can freeze products like rice, pasta and flour to keep them fresh.

Mormons.....intent on the "rapture-ready".

shishkab wrote: [quote=sandcastler]
Are people buying so much that they'll have more than a 6 month supply?

um... just don't check my pantry, okay? i gets me the biiiiiig basmati sack.
Yeah, I get a 25 lb bag of jasmine rice every 6 months or so. Plus I always have basmati and Japanese sushi rice on hand.

I eat a lot of rice.

Article about this in the NYT today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/business/worldbusiness/17warm.html?hp

not awesome. is there a grape shortage? i can live without most food but not so sure about bubbly.

Carnivore wrote: http://wcbstv.com/topstories/rice.prices.costco.2.707121.html

That one reports nearly double rice prices, and "flour has gone up 13 percent, milk 10 percent." On NPR this morning they said that a major importer of rice to the US is Thailand, and that the cost per ton had nearly tripled to $1,000. So look for it to continue to go up.

Further, they interviewed a large bakery in Brooklyn where he reported that his flour bill had gone from $7,200 every two days to $22,000. They had the option of going to a lower grade flour to save some cash, but they decided to stay with the same grade.

They also reported milk prices up 33%.

On the good side, they said that US farmers would likely start producing a lot more soon, which should *help* with prices. Some, at least.

armchair_warrior wrote: you know the old story farmers here and in europe are paid sometimes not to grow things. such a waste.

Eh. Those programs aren't all bad, it is a lot more complicated than that.

I thought that the U.S. didn't import much rice because it's the No. 4 producer of rice in the world. Most of our rice supply is domestic.

I eat short-grain brown rice. Grown in northern California. As far as I can tell, the price of that is pretty stable.

There is a serious global food crisis going on. It's going to get a lot worse, IMO.

maybe the second one to comment -- i bet there's a silent majority out there that have noticed it, though....