Record rice cost hits Asia

(REUTERS)   

The cost of rice has soared to a record-high level, forcing rice-exporting countries such as India and Pakistan to cut sales to ensure they can feed their own people. The rise has also driven consumers such as the Philippines to implement stringent measures to crack down on hoarders, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

With half the world’s population dependent on rice as their staple, the current global food crisis poses “huge problems of daily nutrition for half the planet,” the report quoted Roland Jansen, Chief Executive Officer of Switzerland-based Mother Earth Investments AG, as saying. Rice gained 2.4 per cents to reach $21.50 per 100lb (46kg) in Chicago, double the price a year ago.

China, Egypt, Vietnam and India – who together account for more than a third of global rice exports – curbed sales this year to protect domestic stockpiles. Likewise this week, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced plans to import as much as one million tonnes of rice to cope with domestic demand.

She vowed to lead “the charge against any officials and businessmen who divert supplies or distort the price of the staple food” by imprisoning people who steal or hoard rice. The Southeast Asian country’s Department of Agriculture had also asked fast-food chains and restaurants to serve half portions of rice to cut waste.

And as poverty-stricken countries become hard hit by rice shortages and the unabated increase in the price of basic commodities, experts warn the situation may lead to social unrest in Asia.

“Soaring food prices have become a serious threat for the survival of the present caretaker government. There could now be serious discontent, violence and food riots,” Ataur Rahman, Bangladeshi political scientist told AFP.

While no one can claim immunity from the effects of the food crisis, poorer Asian countries are likely to feel the pinch more than richer nations like Malaysia and Singapore, said Ooi Kee Beng of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

In a bid to respond to this crisis, experts have recently lobbied for the production of hybrid rice by crossing different varieties of rice to attain higher yields. The International Rice Research Institute, which is based in the Philippines, has led the initiative to team up with biotechnology companies to develop a hybrid that would ease pressure on rice costs.

The Vietnamese government will also move towards increasing its rice production by 2.4 per cent by allowing farmers to plant a larger crop along the Mekong River, a large delta that flows from southern Vietnam into the South China Sea and is known as a major rice-growing area.

In Depth