Rice Prices Skyrocket Worldwide! (Now with WHEAT BLIGHT!)

Post by **dogbane** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:13 am

Still rising, and wheat and soy are at all-time highs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7341978.stm

Post by **phil_in_cs** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:49 am

Inflation says a commodity would always be near a record high. If prices go up 5%, you constantly have new records. And with demand increasing due to increasing population, you have more price increases.

It would be a bit tricky to do the math on this one, since you not only have inflation, you have the dollar tanking. Oil -v- the Euro isn't up nearly as much as Oil -v- the Dollar for example.

That article says the main decrease in the rice supply is due to the rapid increase in the number of middle class people, who are demanding more meat and dairy items. That's lead to a decrease in rice production.

Post by **phil_in_cs** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:22 pm

Since the dollar has been dropping, it would be interesting to get the price of gold in 1980, and the price of rice then, and see how much rice you could get for an ounce of gold then. Then, compare that to the price of gold/rice today.

[professor voice]This exercise is left to the reader[/professor voice]

Post by **Moana Drifter** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:14 pm

phil_in_cs wrote:Since the dollar has been dropping, it would be interesting to get the price of gold in 1980, and the price of rice then, and see how much rice you could get for an ounce of gold then. Then, compare that to the price of gold/rice today.

[professor voice]This exercise is left to the reader[/professor voice]

gold 1/80 $680/oz
gold 2/08 $915/oz

rice 1/80 $0.484/lb
rice 2/08 $0.583/lb

rice 1/80 7.12e-4 tr. oz./lb
rice 2/08 6.37e-4 tr. oz./lb

rice, change in USD 1980-2008 +20.5%
rice, change in gold 1980-2008 -10.5%

rice is BLS data, retail long grain uncooked, US city average

I think you'll continue to see the spread widen. The latest data from the BLS is from February, and I think a lot of the price increases haven't shown up yet at the stores. My wife just bought our regular monthly 25 lb bag last week and said the price was the same as the month before.

Post by **Cymro** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:04 pm

...and things are getting worse.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/ ... index.html

Post by **Moana Drifter** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:57 am

Well, apparently the price increases have made it down to the retail level. My wife was talking with one of her friends yesterday who was complaining about paying $25 for a bag of rice. My wife bought an identical bag last week for $17.

PPI was sharply higher, although the core PPI was fairly contained. It appears that the fuel and food prices haven't bled over to the rest of the economy yet. Tomorrow's CPI should be interesting.

Post by **phil_in_cs** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:27 am

Aren't food and fuel excluded from the indexes since they are "volatile" ?

Post by **Moana Drifter** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:53 am

phil_in_cs wrote:Aren't food and fuel excluded from the indexes since they are "volatile" ?

Food and fuel are excluded from the core indexes because they are volatile, (and also the demand is fairly inelastic). They are still included in the full indexes, which are reported right along with the core indexes. Full PPI for March is 1.1%, core is 0.2%. Consumer foods were up 1.2% and energy was 2.9%.

Post by **19kilo** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:28 pm

Moana Drifter wrote:Well, apparently the price increases have made it down to the retail level. My wife was talking with one of her friends yesterday who was complaining about paying $25 for a bag of rice. My wife bought an identical bag last week for $17.

PPI was sharply higher, although the core PPI was fairly contained. It appears that the fuel and food prices haven't bled over to the rest of the economy yet. Tomorrow's CPI should be interesting.

Where do you live? 25$?? Damn. still 8.50 here for 20lbs.

Post by **Moana Drifter** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:12 pm

19kilo wrote:Where do you live? 25$?? Damn. still 8.50 here for 20lbs.

My wife insists on buying the "Jasmine" rice, claiming it tastes better. Plain rice is cheaper. Personally, I can't detect any flavor at all in any white rice I eat. Price was for a 25 lb bag.

Post by **19kilo** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:33 pm

Moana Drifter wrote:
19kilo wrote:Where do you live? 25$?? Damn. still 8.50 here for 20lbs.
My wife insists on buying the "Jasmine" rice, claiming it tastes better. Plain rice is cheaper. Personally, I can't detect any flavor at all in any white rice I eat. Price was for a 25 lb bag.

All you had to say was "it's for the wife" We understand.

Post by **jeremya** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:19 am

Gunny wrote:
SSgtMobley wrote:
19kilo wrote:
Gunny wrote:Thanks Festus and Throwback. I picked up a 25# bag at HEB tonight for 8.50ish or about the cost of a gallon of milk
Quote for how sad it is.
It was only 8.50 for the milk because he bought it at HEB (also known as Central Market) is about as trendy and pretentious as you can get with most of their selection of foods being organic, expensive and yuppy-priced.

Anything you can buy at Central Market that you can ALSO buy at a regular grocery store is usually anywhere from 50 - 200% more expensive.
HEB and Central Market are co-owned but are not the same grocery store. They carry different products, have a different pricing structure and a different supply chain for most of their products.

Please don't talk about things you don't know anything about. You're making us Texans look bad.

I gotta back Gunny up on this one. HEB has, from what I can tell, then best prices locally. They do also own Central Market. Central Market is expensive, but by no means does HEB=Central Market.

Anyway... I am going to pick up some rice and beans, then repackage them with my vacuum sealer. Also going to stock up on some canned veggies.

For me this just isn't just about the food crisis but the possible economic crisis.

-- Jeremy

Post by **southalabama** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 9:19 pm

With rises in food prices we would all be wise to stock up on food. Food prices are rising at a higher rate than you can get on your investments.

Post by **Lynxian** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 3:17 am

I paid €1,10 for 4 pounds of rice, the other day. I haven't seen this rise in price lately. (Mind you, I do get the cheap rice. The taste difference in between this and the more expensive rice is almost unnoticable once you've cooked it.)

Post by **Roknrandy** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:15 am

I just got back from Sams and rice has gone up some here. I paid 7.86 each two months ago for a couple of 25 pound bags and now it's 9.93.

Post by **Ramius** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:30 pm

Gunny wrote:How long will a 50# sack last? Anyone know?

ETA: Last as in, "Edible until it spoils under optimal storage conditions"

My wife and I bought a 50 lb sack in Jan '07 and is pretty much lasted us until Sep '07. We had a little left over, but it was added to another 50 lb sack we purchased around the time. My wife is from South America, where rice is a staple of their diet in her region. We incorporated it into almost every lunch and dinner, either as a main or side dish. Most of the time we filled our plate with half rice and half beans, or something of that nature. Sometimes we used the left overs from the previous day for breakfast in the morning by frying it with eggs, chopped pork or spam, chopped green onions, and some soy sauce.

Post by **Cymro** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:38 pm

I'm still eating my way through rice I put up four years ago. If stored properly, it'll probably outlast the purchaser.

Post by **SSgtMobley** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:06 pm

jeremya wrote:
Gunny wrote:
SSgtMobley wrote:
19kilo wrote: Quote for how sad it is.
It was only 8.50 for the milk because he bought it at HEB (also known as Central Market) is about as trendy and pretentious as you can get with most of their selection of foods being organic, expensive and yuppy-priced.

Anything you can buy at Central Market that you can ALSO buy at a regular grocery store is usually anywhere from 50 - 200% more expensive.
HEB and Central Market are co-owned but are not the same grocery store. They carry different products, have a different pricing structure and a different supply chain for most of their products.

Please don't talk about things you don't know anything about. You're making us Texans look bad.
I gotta back Gunny up on this one. HEB has, from what I can tell, then best prices locally. They do also own Central Market. Central Market is expensive, but by no means does HEB=Central Market.

Anyway... I am going to pick up some rice and beans, then repackage them with my vacuum sealer. Also going to stock up on some canned veggies.

For me this just isn't just about the food crisis but the possible economic crisis.

-- Jeremy

Then the prices in Austin must just suck balls. The average price for milk around here in Dallas is at the most $4.00 a gallon. Thats below half of what Gunny cited as his price for milk.

Post by **Shadowsbane** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:59 pm

Try to find ethinc markets....rice is cheaper there. As are beans and other such items..

Don't wash or rinse the rice if you can help it, you loose nutrients that way.

Post by **Alchemyguy** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 8:37 am

I'm firmly convinced any shortages appearing in North America are artificial; The US exports 50% of its production, and over 90% of rice consumed domestically is produced domestically. This means that, roughly speaking, the US produces twice as much rice as it eats.

That means there is no real shortage of rice, only a hyped shortage brought about by the masses reacting to CNN. In a couple of months things will be back to normal around here; crops will be coming off the fields and it'll be like the rest of the world isn't starving.

Post by **Cymro** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 8:47 am

We've discussed that at length here:

http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopi ... highlight=

It's kinda confusing having three or four threads about this topic, but we get by...

Post by **Cymro** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:15 am

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, Something Completely Different:

Wheat Blight, in the Middle East and Africa, but coming soon to an agricultural region near you!

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/27/ ... orlaug.php

http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2008/0 ... news/6599/

This current strain hits fast, has a high mortality rate, and can affect about 99% of the wheat varieties in cultivation. Enjoy!

Post by **Alchemyguy** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:25 am

Now that's scary stuff. Our Green Revolution advances in yield are dependent on staying one step ahead of the various diseases that plague crops, in the same way that antibiotics have to keep changing in the arms race against microbes. I'm not surprised that more virulent crop diseases keep emerging and the remedies (new strains) are seeing diminishing returns; less resistance, smaller yield gains, etc.

I have no answer here, other than that natural selection is tireless and not dependent on government funding.

Post by **milesdzyn** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:19 pm

Well my local source is out of short grain rice, my favorite.

This made me realized that I need some long grain rice for red beans and rice. One of the local mexican markets had 5 pound bags for $1.77 / 35.4 cents per pound, never tought that would seem like a bargain. I bought 75 lbs worth. It's now packed in a airtight military container.

Now I'm looking for a good source for 50 lbs of red beans and 25 lbs of soy beans.

Miles

Zombie Squad

Rice Prices Skyrocket Worldwide! (Now with WHEAT BLIGHT!)

Grain Blight!