Rice Races To Record High

The price of rice – the staple foodstuff for more than 8 billion people around the world – has shot up by more than a half in just two weeks. What is more, analysts are predicting worse to come.
Traders have warned that popular Thai white rice could reach and surpass $1,000 a tonne in the next three months. It hit an all-time record of $850 a tonne on Friday from $760 the previous week.

The spike in the price of rice has been matched by similar rises in other globally important foodstuffs such as maize, soya, wheat, and corn. And if the experts are to be believed, the rises will be sustained. Higher food prices are going to be with us for some time to come.

FULL STORY at
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/rice-races-to-record-high-805778.html
 
Demand for rice threatens global food supplies
The run on rice is threatening to disrupt world food supplies as much as banks' lack of confidence in each other has seen global credit markets dry up.
 
China, Egypt, Vietnam and India, representing more than a third of global rice exports, curbed sales this year, and Indonesia says it may do the same.

The price of rice, the staple food for half the world, rose 2pc to a record $20.910 per 100lbs in Chicago, double the price a year ago and a fivefold increase from 2001.

FULL STORY at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/04/08/cnrice108.xml