Rice prices have tripled this year, reaching $1,000 a ton for 100 percent Grade B white rice.
Posted on 05/02/2008 8:52:43 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej piqued global interest this week when he suggested the formation of a rice cartel with other producers, a government spokesman said.
Rice prices have tripled this year, reaching $1,000 a ton for 100 percent Grade B white rice.
The idea came as his deputy and commerce minister proposed a rice producer summit that would include Thailand, Vietnam, India and China. Only India has so far voiced support; it is second to Thailand as the world's largest rice producer.
The notion of a rice cartel comes amid skyrocketing food prices that have been linked -- at least in part -- to rising energy costs, the business of another cartel: the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. Its 12 member nations supply about 40 percent of the world's oil.
Laos Foreign Ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalansy said Friday the Laotian government would "seriously consider" the idea of creating a cartel to gain "bargaining power," The Associated Press reported.
"Our priority is to help vulnerable groups in the country, both the producers and consumers," AP quoted Yong as saying. "We are especially vulnerable because we are a landlocked country so everything depends on irrigation."
Excerpted.
Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/02/thailand.rice.cartel/
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Cartel?
We should start a corn and wheat cartel, hell everyone’s doing it.
Chanthalansy?
De Chanthalansy sing this song,
Doo-da, Doo-da
De Chanthalansy’s two miles long
Oh, de doo-da day
Egypt and the USA are also rice producing countries. What kind of cartel is this? Going nowhere.
The world, in the second half of the 20th century, must have gone stupid.
What took so long? The time for action was in the 60s, when the sandmaggots made their first move doing something that is illegal in every individual free, civilized country: create a cartel.
I have been proposing a technology, pharmaceutical and food cartel for about 20 years now...
Think about it.
In my Thai restaurant we only used Thai Jasmine rice.
In my Asian grocery store I sold Arkansas Rice in bulk. I ordered the exact same rice in 100 lb sacks in both plain brown bags, and white bags with Chinese writing.
Vegans and other leftists would buy the stuff in the brown bags, while the Asians would only buy the "real Asian" rice. I charged the same per pound price for either.
Where does Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Russia, Mexico get their food? Are they all food exporters?
(Somehow, I doubt that...)
The only Country that may not qualify here is Canada. I think that they have been grain exporters for a long time. And they are NOT a member of OPEC.
If OPEC can do it why not the rest of us. The US can start a corn and wheat cartel.
Add soybeans to the cartel....
We have transfered our loyalty to short grain brown rice because the "nutty" flavor frankly goes better with larb and with all kinds of curry.
BUMP!
Just got back from my weeky shopping expedition. Surprise! All the bigger bags of rice were gone except two ten pounders from somewhere not the USA and those two were grabbed by somebody as I looked. Must be a distribution problem somewhere.
Lucky me my Japanese wife prefers the California grown rice. The good stuff like Tamanishiki is comparable to Japanese rice.
Vegans and other leftists would buy the stuff in the brown bags, while the Asians would only buy the "real Asian" rice. I charged the same per pound price for either.
You should have charged the vegans and leftists more.
Very glad I’ve started using barley instead of rice. This move will only push prices higher.
Barley tastes better anyway.
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