Rice rationed as price rockets 60% in a year

The soaring price of food ­yesterday forced some British wholesalers to ration supplies of rice to try to prevent panic buying.

The price of a 2lb bag of supermarket basmati rice has soared by 60 per cent in a year from 90p to £1.45.

Cash-and-carry chain Bestway, which has 51 outlets, has instructed staff not to allow bulk buying.

Spokesman Peter Cunard said: “We have got a brief out to all managers. If people look as though they are bulk buying they are being encouraged to decrease the amount so there will be enough for everybody.”

The shortage of rice looks certain to push up costs even further for over-stretched shoppers, who have already seen staple food prices rise by 15 per cent in the past year.

The first signs of panic buying emerged at American outlets as the worldwide shortage of rice became apparent.

The giant Wal-Mart chain began restricting sales of its 20lb bags to four per customer at its 580 cash-and-carry outlets as rice from the world’s biggest exporter, Thailand, hit a record 1,000 dollars a ton.

“This temporary cap is intended to ensure there’s plenty of rice for all our members,” said the firm.

Another concerned US chain, Costco, reported increased demand for items such as rice and flour as ­customers started to stock up.

Brazil this week became the latest country to suspend rice exports, ­following the examples of India and Vietnam.

Pakistan yesterday said its rice exports could also be curtailed if domestic supplies appeared to be in jeopardy.

The global shortage of rice coupled with soaring demand – wholesale prices worldwide are nearly three times higher than at the start of the year – has even led to outbreaks of violence in some countries.

There have been riots in West Africa and Haiti amid fears that millions of the world’s poor will struggle to feed themselves.

Mark Hill, head of food and agriculture at financial services firm Deloitte, said soaring rice prices were linked to a global wheat shortage.

“If wheat is expensive people switch to rice which has an effect on the demand for rice, so the price of rice goes up. They are definitely linked,” he said.

But British supermarkets were keen to stress that their supplies were not being affected. A Waitrose spokeswoman said the chain was not seeing any problems.

“In line with the rest of the market we have seen some higher costs for rice,” she said.

“We are absorbing these at present to ensure that our prices remain ­competitive.”

A Tesco spokeswoman said: “We have a very robust supply chain and have no indication of any problems with rice supplies.

“Customers are not changing their buying behaviour.”

A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman said: “Obviously, the cost price has gone up but in terms of availability there aren’t any issues.”

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