Today on this planet there are 230,000 more mouths to feed than there
were yesterday. Next month there will be 6 million more mouths.
Already food shortages are appearing in US stores.
Read:
http://nysun.com/news/food-rationing-confronts-breadbasket-world
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 re****ts 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.
=93Where=92s the rice?=94 an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu,
said. =93You should be able to buy something like rice. This is
ridiculous.=94
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.
=93You can=92t eat this every day. It=92s too heavy,=94 a health care
executive from Palo Alto, Sharad Patel, grumbled as his son loaded two
sacks of the Basmati into a shopping cart. =93We only need one bag but
I=92m getting two in case a neighbor or a friend needs it,=94 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.
=93Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice
purchases based on your prior purchasing history,=94 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.
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