|
SINGAPORE—Rice climbed to a record for a fourth day as
the Philippines, the biggest importer, announced plans
to buy 1 million tons and some of the world’s largest
exporters cut sales to ensure they can feed their own
people.
Rice,
the staple food for half the world, gained 2.4 percent
to $21.50 per 100 pounds in Chicago, more than double
the price a year ago. Philippine President Gloria Arroyo
vowed Tuesday to crack down on hoarding and said she
would jail anyone found guilty of “stealing rice from
the people.”
“The
need to avert social tensions from high food prices” has
made “food sufficiency even more urgent,” Abah Ofon,
soft-commodities analyst with Standard Chartered Plc.,
said in a report to clients. Food importers may not be
able to meet their needs because of the export limits,
Dubai-based Ofon said.
China,
Egypt, Vietnam and India, representing more than a third
of global rice shipments, curtailed sales this year to
protect domestic stockpiles. The World Bank in
Washington says 33 nations from Mexico to Yemen may face
“social unrest” after food and energy costs increased
for six straight years.
“I am
leading the charge” against any officials and
businessmen who divert supplies or distort the price of
the staple food, Arroyo said in a televised speech
Tuesday.
The
Philippines is tightening controls over domestic sales
and boosting overseas purchases to curb price rises and
avoid the kind of unrest experienced by some African
countries. The government plans to buy more rice at
tenders in April and May.
The
Southeast Asian nation may raise imports of milled rice
by as much as 42 percent to 2.7 million tons this year
from 1.9 million tons in 2007 to discourage speculation
by local traders, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said
March 26.
Commodity prices are posting their seventh year of
gains. The UBS Bloomberg Constant Maturity Commodity
Index of 26 raw materials more than tripled in the past
six years as global demand led by China outpaced
supplies of metals and crops.
Rising
food prices are fueling global inflation. Wholesale
costs in India rose 7 percent in the week ended March
22, the fastest pace in more than three years,
underscoring the threat from rising food costs, the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi said
April 4.
Soaring
prices could lead to increased unrest, such as in Haiti
recently, the United Nations said in a report Monday.
Four
people died in two days of rioting last week over food
prices in Haiti, the western hemisphere’s poorest
country, the organization said on its web site.
“What we
see in
Haiti
is what we’re seeing in many of our operations around
the world—rising prices that mean less food for the
hungry,” the report said, citing the United Nations
World Food Program’s executive director Josette Sheeran.
Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, the Ivory Coast, Mauritania,
Mozambique and Senegal have also experienced unrest in
recent weeks related to soaring food and fuel prices,
according to the report.
The
Philippine government had asked fast-food chains and
restaurants to serve half portions of rice to cut
wastage, Secretary Yap said on March 19.
Record
wheat prices threaten social stability, too. As many as
seven people died from exhaustion or in fights while
waiting in bread lines in Egypt, according to police
reports. Italians boycotted pasta and bread last
September and Pakistan sent troops to guard flour mills
in January.
“I don’t
know if we’re quite done with this particular rally just
yet,” Jack Scoville, a vice president at Price Futures
Group in Chicago, said in a Bloomberg Television
interview late Monday. “We may still see some spikes in
prices before we can finally call this rally done.”
Rice may
trade at more than $20 per 100 pounds for most of 2008,
said Ofon from Standard Chartered.
“Average
ending stocks over the last three seasons are the lowest
since the 1983-84 marketing year due to higher rice
consumption, up around 40 percent over the last 20 years
as a result of higher populations,” said Ofon.
(Bloomberg) |
