(snip)"April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Rice advanced above $25 for the first time as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Sam's Club warehouse unit restricted purchases of some types of rice in the U.S.
The cereal, the staple food for half the world, has more than doubled in the past year as China, Vietnam and India curbed exports to safeguard domestic supplies. Sam's Club limited buying of jasmine, basmati and long-grain white rice to four bags a visit immediately in all U.S. stores where allowed by law, company spokeswoman Kristy Reed said by e-mail.
Consumers have started hoarding rice as supplies shrink. Thailand, which ships one third of the world's exports, may restrict sales, a World Bank official said this week. Wheat, corn and soybeans gained to records this year, spurring social unrest in countries including Haiti and Egypt.
''We have been neglecting our basic rice production infrastructure and research and development for 15 years,'' said Robert Zeigler, director-general of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. ''National hoarding really doesn't help the market,'' he told Bloomberg Television.
Rice rose as much as 0.9 percent to $25.01 per 100 pounds in Chicago today and has climbed 26 percent this month.
The U.S. warehouse clubs are trying to protect business customers, like smaller restaurants, caterers, nursing homes and day-care centers, said Jim Degen, principal of J.M. Degen & Co., a food industry advisory firm based in Templeton, California."(snip)





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