[Heyman]

So yea. Being raised by parents who lived in Laos, I've eaten quite a bit of rice in my lifetime. I notice the price is going up everywhere. It looks like a lot of third world countries are gonna be affected by this. What's going on?

[Kenadian_2006]

Heyman, on Apr 24 2008, 07:27 PM, said:

So yea. Being raised by parents who lived in Laos, I've eaten quite a bit of rice in my lifetime. I notice the price is going up everywhere. It looks like a lot of third world countries are gonna be affected by this. What's going on?

The price of food has been skyrocketing for awhile now, rice is just one of the products that is affected.

[Heyman]

Kenadian_2006, on Apr 24 2008, 06:30 PM, said:

The price of food has been skyrocketing for awhile now, rice is just one of the products that is affected.

So, just market stuff? Okay. Things won't go well, I suppose.

[Kenadian_2006]

Heyman, on Apr 24 2008, 07:31 PM, said:

So, just market stuff? Okay. Things won't go well, I suppose.

Oh, market is only part of it. Oil prices, natural gas prices (natural gas is used to make fertilizer, which makes fertilizer more expensive which makes producing food more expensive which means less fertilizer is used which means less food is produced), the subsidies to corn ethanol driving up the prices of corn (as there is less corn available for the food supply, driving up prices), a particularly bad time for wheat harvests, overall demands increasing due to increasing populations, the increasing standard of living in places like China and India is driving up demand for things like beef and more foods that the West is familiar with, which increases demand which increases price. So market and market related things are a lot do with it, government crap (ethanol subsidies) and just bad harvest (wheat) affect it too.

Let's just say you should be damn glad you don't live in Laos.

[Vaal Satori]

There was also a poor rice harvest this year. When the price started to rise many producing nations panicked and pulled their exports from the market. That's the main reason for the quadrupling of the price.

[Kenadian_2006]

Vaal Satori, on Apr 24 2008, 07:39 PM, said:

There was also a poor rice harvest this year. When the price started to rise many producing nations panicked and pulled their exports from the market. That's the main reason for the quadrupling of the price.

Ahh, didn't know about that.

So yea, basically it's just one giant cluster$%&@ of reasons.

[Gebiv]

Looks like I'll be rationing my rice for those 3rd world countries.

[Xiao Weng]

Gebiv, on Apr 24 2008, 07:56 PM, said:

Looks like I'll be rationing my rice for those 3rd world countries.

Warehouse stores like Costco have already put rationing in place for those buying rice due to the supply problem.

[Stalin Trotsky]

Yeah, one big problem is biofuels. Since the price of corn has gone up so much because of biofuels farmers are growing corn, not wheat, or rice. We help people starve so we can power our motorcars.
Then you have speculators investing in it making the prices of it go higher.

This post has been edited by Stalin Trotsky: 25 April 2008 - 08:00 AM

[Arabland]

We already have food riots in the #rd World. Considering how many poor live in the 2nd and 1st Worlds, I think it's just a matter of time before we see the same.

[Anglo-fuhrer]

Those in the West could just, well, stop eating rice for a bit? It's pretty bland at any rate. Eat more spuds instead.

[Kenadian_2006]

Xiao Weng, on Apr 25 2008, 09:37 AM, said:

Warehouse stores like Costco have already put rationing in place for those buying rice due to the supply problem.

4 50lb bags per person is hardly rationing. "Sorry, you'll only be able to buy enough to feed an African village instead of an African country."

This post has been edited by Kenadian_2006: 25 April 2008 - 10:43 AM

[Mirreille]

Not that it is a big factor, but I wonder if the growing popularity of rice in the West could be a small part of this too? I'm sure rice imports have grown over the last quarter century.

This post has been edited by Mirreille: 25 April 2008 - 09:41 PM

[Elyat]

Millions will die of starvation. But who cares, we've got XBOX to take our minds off of it!

[Flame Darkfire]

For a second I thought this would be about Condoleeza Rice.

I for one don't like rice too much and would gladly give my share to those who need it.

[Xiao Weng]

Kenadian_2006, on Apr 25 2008, 12:02 PM, said:

4 50lb bags per person is hardly rationing. "Sorry, you'll only be able to buy enough to feed an African village instead of an African country."

It's definitely rationing for small restaraunts. "Sorry, you'll only be able to buy enough to last a week before you have to close your doors." Costco, after all, is geared towards those who run businesses.

Mirrielle, part of the reason rice prices are growing is because rice-exporting nations have cut those exports to ensure the domestic prices stay down. The lack in exports to the U.S. has started the fears of the rice shortages, even though there are no shortages in certain types of rice.

[Hysterian]

Mirreille, on Apr 25 2008, 02:31 PM, said:

Not that it si a big factor, but I wonder if the growing popularity of rice in the West could be a small part of this too? I'm sure rice imports have grown over the last quarter century.

When it comes to imports, part of this has to do with the number of immigrants that have come from the Asian countries. There has been quite an increase in them the past 10 years. This is going to be a bad year for harvesting of wheat, rice, and corn as well. Thus, most prices are going up.

[Frederick the Great]

Developed nations need to help supply tools (capital goods) to third world nations so they can create more surpluses. That way, they can do the farming and we can sell them agricultural products back to them for a profit.

This post has been edited by Frederick the Great: 25 April 2008 - 04:11 PM

[BartSimpson]

Stalin Trotsky, on Apr 25 2008, 07:17 AM, said:

Yeah, one big problem is biofuels. Since the price of corn has gone up so much because of biofuels farmers are growing corn, not wheat, or rice. We help people starve so we can power our motorcars.
Then you have speculators investing in it making the prices of it go higher.

Leftist environmentalists spearheaded the charge to demand alternate fuels to quixotically address global warming and they got what they asked for. Food crops have been diverted to making fuels.

Wasn't that the plan all along?

[Frederick the Great]

Bull#$%^... we wanted solar and wind power not biofuel and ethanol @#%^... They were the work of the conservatives who didn't want to go all the way with renewables.