[Peakoil] Fwd: [roeoz] FOOD RATIONING HAS ARRIVED IN AMERICA

[Alex Pollard]

Scary

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Many parts of America, long considered the 
breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable 
phenomenon: food rationing. 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 reports 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. 
"Where's the rice?" an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, 
said. "You should be able to buy something like rice. This is 
ridiculous." 
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. 
"You can't eat this every day. It's too heavy," a health care 
executive from Palo Alto, Sharad Patel, grumbled as his son loaded 
two sacks of the Basmati into a shopping cart. "We only need one bag 
but I'm getting two in case a neighbor or a friend needs it," 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. 
"Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice 
purchases based on your prior purchasing history," 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. 
The curbs and shortages are being tracked with concern by 
survivalists who view the phenomenon as a harbinger of more serious 
trouble to come. 
"It's sporadic. It's not every store, but it's becoming more 
commonplace," the editor of SurvivalBlog.com, James Rawles, 
said. "The number of reports I've been getting from readers who have 
seen signs posted with limits has increased almost exponentially, 
I'd say in the last three to five weeks." 
Spiking food prices have led to riots in recent weeks in Haiti, 
Indonesia, and several African nations. India recently banned export 
of all but the highest quality rice, and Vietnam blocked the signing 
of a new contract for foreign rice sales. 
"I'm surprised the Bush administration hasn't slapped export 
controls on wheat," Mr. Rawles said. "The Asian countries are here 
buying every kind of wheat." Mr. Rawles said it is hard to know how 
much of the shortages are due to lagging supply and how much is 
caused by consumers hedging against future price hikes or a total 
lack of product. 
"There have been so many stories about worldwide shortages that it 
encourages people to stock up. What most people don't realize is 
that supply chains have changed, so inventories are very short," Mr. 
Rawles, a former Army intelligence officer, said. "Even if people 
increased their purchasing by 20%, all the store shelves would be 
wiped out." 
At the moment, large chain retailers seem more prone to shortages 
and limits than do smaller chains and mom-and-pop stores, perhaps 
because store managers at the larger companies have less discretion 
to increase prices locally. Mr. Rawles said the spot shortages 
seemed to be most frequent in the Northeast and all the way along 
the West Coast. He said he had heard reports of buying limits at 
Sam's Club warehouses, which are owned by Wal-Mart Stores, but a 
spokesman for the company, Kory Lundberg, said he was not aware of 
any shortages or limits. 
An anonymous high-tech professional writing on an investment Web 
site, Seeking Alpha, said he recently bought 10 50-pound bags of 
rice at Costco. "I am concerned that when the news of rice shortage 
spreads, there will be panic buying and the shelves will be empty in 
no time. I do not intend to cause a panic, and I am not speculating 
on rice to make profit. I am just hoarding some for my own 
consumption," he wrote. 
For now, rice is available at Asian markets in California, though 
consumers have fewer choices when buying the largest bags. "At our 
neighborhood store, it's very expensive, more than $30" for a 25-
pound bag, a housewife from Mountain View, Theresa Esquerra, 
said. "I'm not going to pay $30. Maybe we'll just eat bread." 

http://carolynbaker.net/site/index2.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=456&pop=1&page=0#


http://www2.nysun.com/article/74994





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