On May 1, 9:08=A0pm, Bruce in alaska <f...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> In article <4818a793$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, eug...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Eugene Miya)
> wrote:
>
> > =A0Bruce: you should also be
> > mindful that I likely won't bet able to get to your and Dennis' way
eith=
er.
>
> Well, there is always next year....
>
> --
> Bruce in alaska
> add <path> after <fast> to reply
Rumors of shortage prompt rush on rice
Story in today's News Miner about rush to buy rice in Anchorage
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Rumors of a possible rice shortage are
causing a rush on the staple in Anchorage stores.
About 200 shoppers on Thursday were lined up at a Costco store 15
minutes before opening, looking to buy rice in bulk.
Rice has flown off the shelves at warehouse retailers Costco and Sam's
Club and both have set limits on rice purchases. Neighborhood stores
and specialty groceries that serve the city's rising immigrant
population were just as busy.
A buyer at New Sagaya in Midtown said his store sold about 15,000
pounds of rice in a single week. Red Apple in Mountain View sold
20,000 pounds in four days, according to manager Claude Anaruk.
"Right now," he said, "rice is crazy."
Depending on where they're from, people may prefer jasmine, long
grain, short grain or basmati, but a full bag of rice is a symbol of
security, particularly for immigrants with a memory of shortages back
home, said Theo Wong, who runs International Marketplace on 36th
Avenue.
"(Having rice) is showing you're not poor. It's a mental thing," he
said. "My mom, she's Chinese, she compares it to money. I got rice. I
got money."
Rice is readily available in Anchorage for shoppers willing to pay $1
to $3 a pound. While the least expensive brands sold in large bulk
amounts were not available Wednesday at some stores, there were ample
supplies of small packages of brown rice and instant rice.
Buyers expect to receive more ****pments soon of bulk medium-grain
CalRose white rice from California, a somewhat stickier rice popular
in su**** restaurants.
Elsewhere in the world, the rice picture is more perilous. Global
stocks of rice have fallen by half in recent years, partly due to
droughts and higher demand. Rising fuel prices have added to ****pping
costs. Shortages of affordable rice in China, India, Vietnam and
Thailand have led to restrictions on ex****ts, which have caused price
increases in consumer nations.
The flow to the United States of certain preferred varieties of
foreign rice is slowing while the price has more than doubled,
according to local buyers.
On Monday, Doug Perfetto bought Red Apple's three-bag limit of Dragon
Fly Thai at $54.91 per 50-pound sack, plus a couple of extra bags of
sticky rice for dessert, paying $189. In volume, the purchase was not
highly unusual for his Filipino-American family of 10.
"There is almost always 200 pounds of rice in our house," he said.
"They eat it for breakfast, they eat it for lunch. ... This is their
main, everyday food."
Perfetto believes there is a growing global rice shortage, partly
because it's all that the poorest people in the world can afford these
days and partly because they're storing it for their own food
security.
"They're not eating steak, and they're not eating out - that's
expensive food," Perfetto said. "So they're going back to basic
staples. And now these people are starting to stock it up. You can
store rice; you can't store steak. You can live on rice."
from:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AK_RICE_RUSH_AKOL-?SITE=3DAKFAI&SECTI=
ON=3DHOME
|
