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horgad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1641 Posts |
 Posted - 04/21/2008 : 09:02:57
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Food hoarding and rationing in the USA?!?!?! I am having trouble wrapping my brain around this and can't help but being a little skeptical. If anybody has any other info, please post it.
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Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World
By JOSH GERSTEIN
Staff Reporter of the Sun
April 21, 2008
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.
At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy.
"Where's the rice?" an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. "You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous."
The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants, but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99.
"You can't eat this every day. It's too heavy," a health care executive from Palo Alto, Sharad Patel, grumbled as his son loaded two sacks of the Basmati into a shopping cart. "We only need one bag but I'm getting two in case a neighbor or a friend needs it," the elder man said.
The Patels seemed headed for disappointment, as most Costco members were being allowed to buy only one bag. Moments earlier, a clerk dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from another customer who tried to exceed the one-bag cap.
"Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history," a sign above the dwindling supply said.
Shoppers said the limits had been in place for a few days, and that rice supplies had been spotty for a few weeks. A store manager referred questions to officials at Costco headquarters near Seattle, who did not return calls or e-mail messages yesterday.
An employee at the Costco store in Queens said there were no restrictions on rice buying, but limits were being imposed on purchases of oil and flour. Internet postings attributed some of the shortage at the retail level to bakery owners who flocked to warehouse stores when the price of flour from commercial suppliers doubled.
The curbs and shortages are being tracked with concern by survivalists who view the phenomenon as a harbinger of more serious trouble to come.
"It's sporadic. It's not every store, but it's becoming more commonplace," the editor of SurvivalBlog.com, James Rawles, said. "The number of reports I've been getting from readers who have seen signs posted with limits has increased almost exponentially, I'd say in the last three to five weeks."
Spiking food prices have led to riots in recent weeks in Haiti, Indonesia, and several African nations. India recently banned export of all but the highest quality rice, and Vietnam blocked the signing of a new contract for foreign rice sales.
"I'm surprised the Bush administration hasn't slapped export controls on wheat," Mr. Rawles said. "The Asian countries are here buying every kind of wheat." Mr. Rawles said it is hard to know how much of the shortages are due to lagging supply and how much is caused by consumers hedging against future price hikes or a total lack of product.
"There have been so many stories about worldwide shortages that it encourages people to stock up. What most people don't realize is that supply chains have changed, so inventories are very short," Mr. Rawles, a former Army intelligence officer, said. "Even if people increased their purchasing by 20%, all the store shelves would be wiped out."
At the moment, large chain retailers seem more prone to shortages and limits than do smaller chains and mom-and-pop stores, perhaps because store managers at the larger companies have less discretion to increase prices locally. Mr. Rawles said the spot shortages seemed to be most frequent in the Northeast and all the way along the West Coast. He said he had heard reports of buying limits at Sam's Club warehouses, which are owned by Wal-Mart Stores, but a spokesman for the company, Kory Lundberg, said he was not aware of any shortages or limits.
An anonymous high-tech professional writing on an investment Web site, Seeking Alpha, said he recently bought 10 50-pound bags of rice at Costco. "I am concerned that when the news of rice shortage spreads, there will be panic buying and the shelves will be empty in no time. I do not intend to cause a panic, and I am not speculating on rice to make profit. I am just hoarding some for my own consumption," he wrote.
For now, rice is available at Asian markets in California, though consumers have fewer choices when buying the largest bags. "At our neighborhood store, it's very expensive, more than $30" for a 25-pound bag, a housewife from Mountain View, Theresa Esquerra, said. "I'm not going to pay $30. Maybe we'll just eat bread."
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TenBears
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1021 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2008 : 09:26:19
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| Looks like it's time to go buy a couple bags of rice and maybe another bag of beans or two. |
"Rich," the Old Man said dreamily, "is not baying after what you can't have. Rich is having the time to do what you want to do. Rich is a little whiskey to drink and some food to eat and a roof over your head and a fish pole and a boat and a gun and a dollar for a box of shells. Rich is not owing any money to anybody, and not spending what you haven't got." Robert Ruark
there are too wild Indians...
there are too wild Indians...
there are too wild Indians...-----still taunted
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2008 : 11:11:40
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| Darn.. I was at Costco last week.. I could have hoarded a bunch of bags of rice. Now it's too late. |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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Ardent Listener
Administrator
USA
4841 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2008 : 18:18:46
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| Rationing is a spark that will ignite the flames of mass hoarding. No matter what the commodity. |
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Think positive. |
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2008 : 18:22:29
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I know this is a bit off topic but here goes-
From foreign news program a week ago (DW TV I think) there was a news story on the shortage of rice effecting countries worldwide.
In Bangladesh, however, the government encouraged the growing and stockpiling of-potatoes.
Rice is a water plant and thus needs shallow pools to grow in, i.e. rice paddies. Potatoes tend to grow in most soils and are resistant to warm and cold temperatures (to a degree, extreme temperature changes will hurt the plants.)
The most amazing thing about this story is the fact that
a government actually had the brain power to not only encourage farmers to grow potatoes on land that rice would not grow, but also had the smarts to store away the spuds for future use. Nice to know there are a few governments that are on the ball (it would be nicer if such smarts took place in this government of ours.)
The trick now is to get more people in Bangladesh to eat potatoes instead of rice, though with the cost of rice increasing that shouldn't be a hard sell. |
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Know Common Cents
Penny Pincher Member
195 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2008 : 19:32:17
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I've been preaching to friends, relatives, neighbors (and anyone else who'd listen) that there are going to be food shortages this year and people should start planning. I certainly follow my own advice, but for the first time, I've really realized that we're headed into the tank.
Fresh fruit and vegetables are in short supply in some of the Wisconsin grocery stores. Those that do have product have raised their prices by 10-30% in the past 3 weeks. Even the Wal-Mart mega stores have an obvious shortage of some items. This could be due to delayed deliveries or unavailable supplies of cereal, powdered milk, etc. Shelves that were usually packed tight with boxes and cartons now have everything stretched out to avoid the perception that there are obvious holes where some items used to be. Batten down the hatches. Tough times ahead. |
Here in Wisconsin, we have some of the highest property and gasoline taxes in the US. We're squeezed so much, I have to make my daughter wear penny boxes for shoes. At least she has an endless supply. |
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horgad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1641 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 09:39:29
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Japan's hunger becomes a dire warning for other nations
Food fears: Being a rich nation is no protection for Japan, which faces the fallout of relying too heavily on foreign food to supply domestic needs.
April 21, 2008
Page 1 of 2
MARIKO Watanabe admits she could have chosen a better time to take up baking. This week, when the Tokyo housewife visited her local Ito-Yokado supermarket to buy butter to make a cake, she found the shelves bare.
"I went to another supermarket, and then another, and there was no butter at those either. Everywhere I went there were notices saying Japan has run out of butter. I couldn't believe it — this is the first time in my life I've wanted to try baking cakes and I can't get any butter," said the frustrated cook.
Japan's acute butter shortage, which has confounded bakeries, restaurants and now families across the country, is the latest unforeseen result of the global agricultural commodities crisis.
A sharp increase in the cost of imported cattle feed and a decline in milk imports, both of which are typically provided in large part by Australia, have prevented dairy farmers from keeping pace with demand.
While soaring food prices have triggered rioting among the starving millions of the third world, in wealthy Japan they have forced a pampered population to contemplate the shocking possibility of a long-term — perhaps permanent — reduction in the quality and quantity of its food.
(continued...use the link to read the whole thing)
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TenBears
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1021 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 10:05:48
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Not having butter? That sounds close to the rationing that went on during WWII. Everybody gets their little stamps for sugar, butter, etc. depending upon the number of people in the home.
On a related "scary" note, I read in the paper yesterday that there are actually more home foreclosures in California right now than there are home sales (new and used). I bet this is the first time in history that that has occured. |
"Rich," the Old Man said dreamily, "is not baying after what you can't have. Rich is having the time to do what you want to do. Rich is a little whiskey to drink and some food to eat and a roof over your head and a fish pole and a boat and a gun and a dollar for a box of shells. Rich is not owing any money to anybody, and not spending what you haven't got." Robert Ruark
there are too wild Indians...
there are too wild Indians...
there are too wild Indians...-----still taunted
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Delawhere Jack
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1680 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 16:58:51
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quote:
Originally posted by texcattlerancher
Not having butter? That sounds close to the rationing that went on during WWII.
My mother often recalls mixing the "Oleo", an early form of margarine, that replaced butter during WWII. It was basically lard that came with a little packet of yellow dye that you had to mix into it to make it pale yellow.
I sure hope they still got that gub'nant cheese stored away in warehouses somewhere! |
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." Thomas Jefferson
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Tourney64
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1035 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 17:55:50
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| OK. First the threat of Bee Colony disorder and now this. It's one thing for gas prices to double every 2 years, but to not have food at any price. Ouch!!! Only bright side is a finally a plan that I can follow to lose weight. |
Edited by - Tourney64 on 04/22/2008 17:56:15 |
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horgad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1641 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2008 : 08:07:29
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Bay Area Shoppers Asked To Limit Rice Purchases
UPDATED: 1:36 pm PDT April 22, 2008
The price of a food staple -- rice -- is rising significantly, NBC11 reported.
The price of rice has increased dramatically in recent weeks due to crop failure overseas and resulting hoarding, NBC11 reported.
And at least one Bay Area store is asking customers to hold back on their rice purchases. Costco has posted signs asking customers to follow their regular rice-buying habits.
The rice price increase is a result of a domino effect, NBC11's Noelle Walker reported. Drought in Australia led to a severe decline in rice production that in turn led the world's largest rice exporters to restrict exports. That spurred higher rice prices and hoarding in Asian countries, NBC11 reported.
Now in the United States, rice prices have skyrocketed.
Son Tran owns Le Cheval Vietnamese Restaurant in Oakland.
He said he's seen the price of rice go from $20 to $40 in a matter of weeks.
And Le Cheval's stockpiles are dwindling.
Add to that, the price of vegetables has gone up 50 percent, and some of Tran's regular customers aren't so regular anymore.
The empty tables are a new and troubling trend.
Rice isn't the only food in short supply. The unleavened bread snack matzo, popular with Jewish families during Passover, is also hard to find.
Grocers underestimated demand for the product and one of the main producers of matzo crackers had a problem with one of its ovens on the East Coast, which also shortened supplies.
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horgad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1641 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2008 : 09:02:40
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Americans hoard food as industry seeks regs
April 23, 2008
By Patrice Hill - Farmers and food executives appealed fruitlessly to federal officials yesterday for regulatory steps to limit speculative buying that is helping to drive food prices higher. Meanwhile, some Americans are stocking up on staples such as rice, flour and oil in anticipation of high prices and shortages spreading from overseas.
Their pleas did not find a sympathetic audience at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), where regulators said high prices are mostly the result of soaring world demand for grains combined with high fuel prices and drought-induced shortages in many countries.
The regulatory clash came amid evidence that a rash of headlines in recent weeks about food riots around the world has prompted some in the United States to stock up on staples.
Costco and other grocery stores in California reported a run on rice, which has forced them to set limits on how many sacks of rice each customer can buy. Filipinos in Canada are scooping up all the rice they can find and shipping it to relatives in the Philippines, which is suffering a severe shortage that is leaving many people hungry.
While farmers here and abroad generally are benefiting from the high prices, even they have been burned by a tidal wave of investors and speculators pouring into the futures markets for corn, wheat, rice and other commodities and who are driving up prices in a way that makes it difficult for farmers to run their businesses.
"Something is wrong," said National Farmers Union President Tom Buis, adding that the CFTC's refusal to rein in speculators will force farmers and consumers to take their case to Congress.
"It may warrant congressional intervention," he said. "The public is all too aware of the recent credit crisis on Wall Street. We don't want a lack of oversight and regulation to lead to a similar crisis in rural America."
Food economists testifying at a daylong hearing of the commission said the doubling of rice and wheat prices in the past year is a result of strong income growth in China, India and other Asian countries, where people entering the middle class are buying more food and eating more meat. Farm animals consume a substantial share of the world's grain.
U.S. wheat stocks are at the lowest levels in 60 years because worldwide consumption of wheat has exceeded production in six of the past eight years, said U.S. Agriculture Department chief economist Gerald Bange. Adding to tight supplies was the back-to-back failure of two years of wheat crops caused by drought in Australia, a major wheat exporter, he said.
In addition, the diversion of one-third of the U.S. corn crop into making ethanol for vehicles has increased prices for corn and other staples such as soybeans and cotton as more acreage is set aside for ethanol production.
Farmers also have raised prices because they have been hard hit by spiraling energy costs, which not only raised the price of diesel fuel to records of over $4 a gallon but drove up the cost of nitrogen fertilizer, which is made from natural gas.
"Commodity prices across the board are at levels not experienced in many of our lifetimes," said CFTC Chairman Walter Lukken. "These price levels, along with record energy costs, have put a strain on consumers as well as many producers and commercial participants that utilize the futures markets to manage risks."
The upswing in prices has been exaggerated by the massive influx of investors and speculators seeking to profit from rising prices for corn, wheat, oil, gold and other commodities. Big Wall Street firms and hedge funds have taken huge positions in futures markets that once were dominated by relatively small operators such as farmers and grain-elevator owners.
Small investors, who see fast-rising commodities as good hedges against inflation and a falling dollar, also are getting a piece of the action by investing in index funds that are tied to commodity prices.
"During such turbulent times, it is tempting to shoot first and ask questions later," Mr. Lukken said, but he contended the commission should be "cautious" about doing anything to curb speculation. He and other regulators argued that speculators add volume and liquidity to the markets, which makes them operate more efficiently and helps farmers and other players.
Commissioner Michael V. Dunn said the soaring demand for food and fuel worldwide might be leading to permanently higher food prices, both domestically and abroad.
"We may already be working under or fast approaching a new paradigm of higher agricultural prices," he said. "There is not a silver bullet or single solution to address the problems we are currently facing."
FARM TRADE
Federal market regulators say the soaring price of most commodities over the past year reflects increased demand rather than investor speculation.
Rice 122%
Wheat* 95%
Soybeans 83%
Crude oil 82%
Corn 66%
Gasoline 41%
Gold 37%
Sugar 30%
Coffee 24%
Milk 5%
Live cattle -7%
Lumber -14%
* On the Chicago Board of Trade
Source: Commodity Futures Trading Commission |
Edited by - horgad on 04/23/2008 09:04:09 |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2008 : 11:19:38
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quote:
Originally posted by horgad
Son Tran owns Le Cheval Vietnamese Restaurant in Oakland.
He said he's seen the price of rice go from $20 to $40 in a matter of weeks.
And Le Cheval's stockpiles are dwindling.
Add to that, the price of vegetables has gone up 50 percent, and some of Tran's regular customers aren't so regular anymore.
The empty tables are a new and troubling trend.
That Le Cheval restaurant is a really good place to eat. Now maybe I can actually get a table.. it used to be crowded all the time.
I'm ready.. Got my WWII ration books with stamps, my OPA (Office of Price Administration) red points and blue points. Headed to Costco to get some rice. Darn, my gf didn't want me to buy a big bag of rice when we were there about 10 days ago.. I coulda been ahead of the curve. Rice is outperforming my silver and gold lately.
The foreclosure thing out here is a little scary, but good for some folks. As more and more homes are foreclosed on these banks want to get them off the books fast so they sell them off at about half of what the houses sold for a year or 2 ago. It is good that it makes homes more affordable for folks but bad in that it erodes the value of the homes for those of us that pay our mortgages. This glut on the market is eroding prices quickly and much of our phantom equity is evaporating.
Gotta go check on gettin' sum o' dat gub'ment cheese. I think they have Gub'ment butter at those places too.  |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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swusc
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
553 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2008 : 14:15:40
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quote:
Originally posted by HoardCopperByTheTon
quote:
Originally posted by horgad
Son Tran owns Le Cheval Vietnamese Restaurant in Oakland.
He said he's seen the price of rice go from $20 to $40 in a matter of weeks.
And Le Cheval's stockpiles are dwindling.
Add to that, the price of vegetables has gone up 50 percent, and some of Tran's regular customers aren't so regular anymore.
The empty tables are a new and troubling trend.
That Le Cheval restaurant is a really good place to eat. Now maybe I can actually get a table.. it used to be crowded all the time.
I'm ready.. Got my WWII ration books with stamps, my OPA (Office of Price Administration) red points and blue points. Headed to Costco to get some rice. Darn, my gf didn't want me to buy a big bag of rice when we were there about 10 days ago.. I coulda been ahead of the curve. Rice is outperforming my silver and gold lately.
The foreclosure thing out here is a little scary, but good for some folks. As more and more homes are foreclosed on these banks want to get them off the books fast so they sell them off at about half of what the houses sold for a year or 2 ago. It is good that it makes homes more affordable for folks but bad in that it erodes the value of the homes for those of us that pay our mortgages. This glut on the market is eroding prices quickly and much of our phantom equity is evaporating.
Gotta go check on gettin' sum o' dat gub'ment cheese. I think they have Gub'ment butter at those places too.
I wouldn't worry about the housing prices to much. They got way overpriced as housing prices have historical tracked inflation. The Federal Reserve will push inflation through to make housing prices back in line with 2005-6 prices. The downside is real wealth will down, but nominal wealth will be a little higher. They have to push inflation through to stop people from just giving up the keys to the home.
FRN notes currently outstanding $900B. Treasury debt not owned by the Federal Reserve.. around $9,000B. There is tons of pinned up inflation that they can push through.
-SWUSC |
`Everybody is ignorant. Only on different subjects.' Will Rogers
"This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the "hidden" confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard." Alan Greenspan, 1966. |
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horgad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1641 Posts |
Posted - 04/24/2008 : 07:29:38
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Add another country to the list of those halting rice exports:
---------------QUOTE-------------------
Brazil halts rice exports to ensure domestic supply
The Associated Press
Thursday, April 24, 2008
BRASILIA, Brazil: Brazil announced Wednesday it has temporarily halted rice exports to ensure domestic supply amid rising world prices for the grain.
Brazil grows more rice than it consumes and has a reserve that will safeguard the country's supply, Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes said in a statement. Sales abroad will nevertheless be blocked to make sure the country has enough of the grain for the next six to eight months.
Several Asian countries recently suspended rice exports to guarantee their own supplies, causing an imbalance in world markets, Stephanes said.
"We will follow the movement of the principal world producers," Stephanes said. "With the favorable price, it's possible that there will be an increase in production and that the supply situation will be resolved next year."
Brazil will not meet recent requests by African and Latin American countries for shipments totaling nearly 500,000 tons of rice, he said.
The grain is a staple of the Brazilian diet. |
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OK I am starting to get scared now
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