Food shortages

[Shammu]

World Bank leader urges action on food

BY HARRY DUNPHY, Associated Press Writer Sun Apr 13, 6:45 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The president of the World Bank on Sunday urged immediate action to deal with mounting food prices that have caused hunger and deadly violence in several countries.

Robert Zoellick said the international community has "to put our money where our mouth is" and act now to help hungry people. "It is as stark as that."

He called on governments to rapidly carry out commitments to provide the U.N. World Food Program with $500 million in emergency aid it needs by May 1.

He said the bank is granting an additional $10 million to Haiti for feeding programs, "and I understand others are looking to help."

"It is critical that governments confirm their commitments as soon as possible and others begin to commit," Zoellick said. Prices have only risen further since the WFP issued that appeal, so it is urgent that governments step up, he said.

After a meeting of the bank's policy-setting committee, Zoellick said that the fall of the government in Haiti over the weekend after a wave of deadly rioting and looting over food prices underscores the importance of quick international action. A U.N. police officer was killed Saturday in Haiti's capital.

Zoellick said that international finance meetings are "often about talk," but he noted a "greater sense of intensity and focus" among ministers; now, he said, they have to "translate it into greater action."

Zoellick said the bank was responding to needs in a number of other countries with conditional cash transfer programs, providing food in workplaces and seeds for planting in the new season.

He said a rough analysis the bank estimates that a doubling of food prices over the last three years could potentially push people in low income countries deeper into poverty.

"This is not just a question of short term needs, as important as they are," Zoellick said." This is about ensuring that future generations don't pay a price too."

Zoellick spoke as the bank and its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, wound up two days of meetings that dealt with the financial crises roiling global markets and rising food and energy prices.

The head of the IMF also sounded the alarm on food prices, warning that if they remain high there will be dire consequences for people in many developing countries, especially in Africa.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn said progress in recent years on development can be destroyed by rising food prices, which can lead to starvation and shake the stability of governments, even if they have nothing to do with the increase in food cost. "We are facing a huge problem," he said.

Strauss-Kahn had said Saturday that the problem could also create trade imbalances that would impact major advanced economies, "so it is not only a humanitarian question."

He said if the price spike continues, "Thousands, hundreds of thousands of people will be starving. Children will be suffering from malnutrition, with consequences for all their lives."

Mexican Finance Secretary Agustin Carstens, who heads the bank's policy-setting Development Committee, said officials "need to redouble our efforts" to help the poorest people. He said there had been "a very welcome increase in money" from governments, but all donors need to "reach into their pockets" to help.

An open world economy is crucial to global prosperity, he said, urging a successful conclusion to world trade talks.

Zoellick said the Development Committee endorsed his call for a "New Deal for Global Food Policy" that would aim to boost agricultural productivity in poor nations , improve access to food through schools or work places and help small farmers.

He said earlier this month the bank would nearly double the money it lends for agriculture in Africa from $450 million to $800 million.

Zoellick said he had received positive feedback from his proposal to have sovereign wealth funds — huge pools of capital controlled by governments — invest one percent of their resources in Africa. He said this could draw $30 billion to African growth.

He said the bank was following up the proposal in discussions with countries that have sovereign wealth funds, mainly in Asia and the Middle East, through the International Finance Corporation, the bank's private sector arm.

"Hunger, malnutrition and food policy have formed a recurrent theme at this weekend's meetings, and I believe that we have made progress," Zoellick said. "But it will be important to continue to retain the focus on this as we leave Washington."

World Bank leader urges action on food

[Shammu]

Food crisis looms in Bangladesh

By JULHAS ALAM, Associated Press Writer Sat Apr 12, 7:02 AM ET

DHAKA, Bangladesh - For a 13-year-old boy in this impoverished, teeming city, some things are more important than classes — rice, for one.

"I need to eat first, then school," said Mohammad Hasan, standing at the back of a line of hundreds of people waiting to pick up government-subsidized rice.

With the price of food skyrocketing around the world, desperately poor and overpopulated Bangladesh is considered one of the world's most vulnerable nations.

An adviser to the country's Ministry of Food, A.M.M. Shawkat Ali, warned of a "hidden hunger" in Bangladesh and economists estimate 30 million of the country's 150 million people could go hungry — a crisis that could become a serious political problem for the military-backed government.

"We fear some 30 million of the ultra poor will not be able to afford three meals a day" said Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, a leading economist in Dhaka, the capital.

Bangladesh already faces a decrease in arable land due to industrialization and the ever-growing population. Its low-lying land also is reeling from major floods and a devastating cyclone last year that destroyed some 3 million tons of food crops and left millions homeless and hungry.

The price of rice, the core of the Bangladeshi diet, has jumped by more than 30 percent since then — a major problem in a country where nearly half the population survives on less than $1 a day.

Approximately 10,000 textile workers demanding better wages to meet the higher food prices clashed with police near the capital on Saturday, said police station official Angur Akter.

Dozens of people, including at least 20 police officials, were injured in the violence, Akter said. Their exact number and conditions were not immediately known.

The government, which has ruled Bangladesh since January 2007, has responded to the shortages with varying degrees of success. It has opened more than 6,000 outlets distributing rice at roughly half the market price and announced plans to open more.

But "the government failed to build enough stock of food immediately after last year's disasters, and because of that the situation has become volatile," said Ahmad, who heads an independent think tank, the Bangladesh Development Council.

"The government needs to build a buffer stock immediately. If the government fails, the situation will worsen," he said.

Major opposition parties have recently threatened street protests if the government fails to rein in rising prices and growing discontent could threaten the political balance.

India has agreed to ship 400,000 tons of heavily discounted rice to Bangladesh, but it could take weeks to arrive and officials are uncertain it will be enough. Because of high food prices, the Asian Development Bank warned that inflation could reach 9 percent by June.

Bangladesh is far from the only country with food problems. There have been riots in the African nations of Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal. Rising prices have hit poor countries like Haiti and Peru and even developed countries like Italy and the United States.

A confluence of problems are driving up prices. They include soaring petroleum prices, which increase the cost of fertilizers, transport and food processing; rising demand for meat and dairy in China and India, resulting in increased costs for grain, used for cattle feed; and the ever-rising demand for raw materials to make biofuels.

As of December, 37 countries faced food crises, and 20 had imposed some sort of food-price controls. The U.N.'s World Food Program says it's facing a $500 million shortfall in funding this year to feed 89 million needy people.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned that prices could continue to rise for several years.

"This is not a this-year phenomenon," Zoellick said.

In Bangladesh, leaders are scrambling for solutions. Last week a senior official suggested people eat potatoes instead of rice.

Abdus Sobhan, a construction worker, who had spent hours waiting in the heat for discounted rice, dismissed the notion.

"It's better his family starts first, then we can think if we will change our habit of eating rice," he said. "We can't bear it anymore."

Food crisis looms in Bangladesh

[Shammu]

Haiti's government falls after food riots
Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:36pm EDT

By Joseph Guyler Delva and Jim Loney

PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 12 (Reuters) - Haiti's government fell on Saturday when senators fired the prime minister after more than a week of riots over food prices, ignoring a plan presented by the president to slash the cost of rice.

Sixteen of 17 senators at a special session voted against Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, an ally President Rene Preval placed at the head of a coalition cabinet in June 2006 that was meant to unite the fractious Caribbean nation.

The move by opposition senators was seen as a serious but not crushing blow to Preval, whose 2006 election brought a measure of calm to the poorest country in the Americas as it searched for political stability after decades of dictatorship, military rule and economic mayhem.

The clash with senators came after the president of the country of 9 million people -- most of whom earn less than $2 a day -- managed to persuade rioters to end a week of violence in which at least five people were killed.

Stone-throwing crowds began battling U.N. peacekeepers and Haitian police in the south on April 2, enraged at the soaring cost of rice, beans, cooking oil and other staples.

The unrest spread this week to the capital, Port-au-Prince, bringing the sprawling and chaotic city to a halt as mobs took over the streets, smashing windows, looting shops, setting fire to cars and hurling rocks at motorists.

U.N. troops, stationed in Haiti since Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted as president in a revolt in 2004, fired tear gas and rubber bullets on several occasions to disperse protesters.

On Saturday a Nigerian U.N. peacekeeper was shot to death near the main Catholic cathedral in downtown Port-au-Prince, close to the large and often violent slum of Bel-Air, a Haitian police officer and U.N. commander said.

The circumstances of the shooting were unclear and the city appeared largely tranquil. Three Sri Lankan peacekeepers were struck by bullets on Thursday but were not seriously injured.

MANY HAITIANS WELCOME OUSTER

"Now it's my turn to play," Preval said when he was told by journalists of the Senate vote shortly after he and private sector leaders unveiled a plan to cut the cost of a sack of rice to $43 from $51.

Three dollars of the price cut would be paid for by businesses and the rest by international donors, he said.

Preval said he would ask parliament to pick a new prime minister. Alexis was seen as a pragmatist and dealmaker, and also served as prime minister during Preval's first term as president from 1996 to 2001.

Many Haitians seemed to welcome the ouster of Alexis.

"When he was prime minister, he did nothing to lower the high cost of living. I hope things will change with a new prime minister," said Jean Pierre Jean-Baptiste, 29, an electrician.

Sen. Youri Latortue, a nephew of a former prime minister and leader of Saturday's vote, said Alexis had failed to ramp up food production, protect people against crime, heed calls to establish a new national security force and set a deadline for the U.N. troops to leave.

'EVERYONE HAS TO MAKE A SACRIFICE'

Disturbances over high food prices have broken out in several poor countries, primarily in Africa. Record oil prices, rising demand for food in Asia, the use of farmland and crops for biofuels and other factors such as market speculation have pushed up food prices worldwide.

"The situation is difficult everywhere around the world, everyone has to make a sacrifice," Preval said on Saturday as he announced the plan to cut rice prices in a room adorned with crystal chandeliers and thick drapes at the National Palace.

Preval reiterated that Haiti could not afford to cut taxes on food because it needed the revenue to pay for longer-term projects that create jobs and boost agriculture.

It was unclear whether the price cut would satisfy protesters.

"It has not been lowered enough," said a young man who identified himself only as Givens. "If they don't further lower the price I think people are going to protest more. There will be problems, more unrest. Even the National Palace could be set on fire because we are in trouble." (Additional reporting by Jean Valme; Writing by Michael Christie; Editing by Xavier Briand) (For more stories on global food price rises, please see here)

Haiti's government falls after food riots

[Shammu]

UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency
Monday April 14, 2:10 pm ET
By EDITH M. LEDERER
UN Chief: Food Crisis Has Reached Emergency Proportions, Threatens Fight Against Poverty

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A rapidly escalating global food crisis has reached emergency proportions and threatens to wipe out seven years of progress in the fight against poverty, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Monday.

He called for short-term emergency measures in many regions to meet urgent food needs and avoid starvation and longer-term efforts to significantly increase production of food grains.

The "international community will also need to take urgent and concerted action in order to avoid the larger political and security implications of this growing crisis," Ban told international finance and trade officials who came to a U.N. meeting following weekend talks in Washington.

The secretary-general echoed World Bank President Robert Zoellick's appeal to governments on Sunday to quickly provide the U.N. World Food Program with $500 million in emergency aid that it needs by May 1.

Zoellick said the international community has "to put our money where our mouth is" to deal with rapidly rising food prices that have caused hunger and deadly violence in several countries.

Ban said the recent steep rise in food prices "has already raised the cost of WFP's needs to maintain its current operations from $500 million to $755 million."

WFP, the world's largest humanitarian agency, issued an "extraordinary emergency appeal" to donor countries for $500 million last month, saying the money was needed by May 1 to avoid cutting rations to some of the world's most impoverished regions. The Rome-based agency said its funding gap was growing weekly.

"The rapidly escalating crisis of food availability around the world has reached emergency proportions," Ban said.

"The World Bank has estimated that the doubling of food prices over the last three years could push 100 million people in low income countries deeper into poverty," he said.

Ban echoed Zoellick in warning that that the food crisis "could mean seven lost years in the fight against worldwide poverty."

The United Nations is at a midpoint in its campaign to reduce global poverty and improve living standards of the world's bottom billion. The Millennium Development Goals, adopted at a U.N. summit in 2000, include cutting extreme poverty by half by 2015.

UN Chief: Food Crisis Is Now Emergency

[Shammu]

Asia's rice bowl empties and world price soars

By Raju Gopalakrishnan in Manila
THE crisis over rice showed no signs of easing yesterday as the price of the world's benchmark jumped 10 per cent in just one week, fanning fears that millions across Asia will struggle to afford their staple food.
In a clear sign of the strain on output after major exporters began to curb exports earlier this year, a tender from the Philippines, the world's top importer, attracted offers to sell only about two-thirds of the half a million tonnes it sought.

In Bangkok, Thai 100 per cent B grade white rice, considered the world's benchmark, hit $950 (£482) per tonne, three times its price at the start of 2007.

"There's been a popular misconception that the world can produce as much food as it likes. Well, it obviously can't. And Asia can't feed itself at the moment," Gerry Lawson, the chairman of Sunrice, a major Australian rice producer, said.

Increased food demand from rapidly developing countries, such as China and India, the use of biofuels, high oil prices, global stocks at 25-year lows and market speculation are all blamed for pushing prices of staples such as rice to record highs around the globe.

The unprecedented surge, which some analysts said is going to continue, posed a growing threat to regional governments worried about the prospect of hoarding and social unrest.

Governments in top producer countries, such as Thailand and the No2 exporter, Vietnam, are urging farmers to grow extra crops, although it will be several months before the additional supply hits the market.

Meanwhile, demand from other big importers, such as Iran, which is expected to try to buy up to one million tonnes of Thai rice this year, will keep the upward pressure on prices.

The Philippines is the hardest hit of the Asian nations in the current crisis – although secretive North Korea is likely to be in a worse position.

As a measure of the seriousness of the problem, Manila has temporarily halted conversion of agricultural land for property development, hoping to ring-fence paddy fields to meet the food needs of the country's 88 million people.

Soldiers guard sales of subsidised rice by the state National Food Authority, and the government has filed charges against 13 people suspected of hoarding.

The global turmoil is such that the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, yesterday said the United States hopes to announce fresh steps to alleviate food shortages around the globe. "The rapid rise in global food prices is an urgent concern," she said.

Soaring rice prices have come as fears about tight world supplies led governments to hoard and ignited protests in places like Haiti, where five died in food riots last week.

"You've been drawing down the world stocks since 2000. You're down to the bottom of the barrel," said Ed Taylor, an analyst with Firstgrain.com.

The US government projects world stocks of rice to be 77 million tonnes by 1 August, the start of the new marketing year. That is up slightly on a year ago, based on projections for a five million tonne rise in world production. But world stocks will still be 48 per cent below 2000.

This season's world production could also still be hurt by the weather, leaving countries in need of imports at a time when many countries are already holding back on exports. India and Vietnam have banned exports.

India shut off the supply valve in October, when it banned exports of non-basmati rice to its Asian neighbours. Thailand stepped in to fill the gap, but soon found that it, too, was running short of rice.

In times of grain shortages, the world typically turns to the US, but US rice stocks have been cut in half the past two years. Rice acreage is being diverted to soaring corn, wheat and soybeans.

In 2007, the US produced only about six million tonnes of rice, out of total world production of 425 million tonnes.

"It's just a drop in the bucket," Mr Taylor said. "We don't have anywhere near enough quantity to bale anybody out."

Bob Papanos, the head of The Rice Trader, a weekly rice marketing publication, underscored the point. "We've had declining stocks, declining stocks-to-use ratios for the last 15 years," he said. "It all came together and slapped the world in the face."

The United Nations' World Food Programme said on Tuesday that the price it pays for rice to supply food donations jumped to $780 a tonne from about $460 a tonne at the beginning of March – just after it made an emergency appeal for an extra $500 million.

Rice could be even more volatile, since governments in many nations – including across Asia's "rice bowl" – consider rice a national security priority.

What makes rice supply/demand special is that almost all of the crop is consumed where it is grown.

Only 6 per cent of world rice is exported, compared with 17 per cent for wheat, the other main food grain.

VIETNAM

VIETNAM is among the better placed Asian countries – it is at least able to supply its own domestic needs.

But the world's third-largest exporter of rice has already imposed a 22 per cent cut in the amount of the crop it is willing to put on world markets – thus making life more difficult for its traditional customers, such as the Philippines.

Farmers in Vietnam say they have planted a special variety of rice for their summer crop, hoping that 7.8 million tons will hit the international market in mid-June, a month earlier than normal.

This rush to feed the market is not particularly a humanitarian one – with prices as high as they are, a Vietnamese farmer can make a good profit, enough to send a child to university or improve their agricultural equipment.

PHILIPPINES

THE Philippines is the world's biggest importer of rice and has been most exposed to a leap in international prices.

"I do not see any food riots in the Philippines," the defence secretary, Gilberto Teodoro, told reporters this week. "We don't see any immediate threats to national security, whether caused by this rice crisis or otherwise."

The president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, said an action plan to prevent rice shortages includes securing rice imports, proper distribution and cracking down on hoarders and price manipulators. The government has temporarily halted the conversion of agricultural lands for development, amid concerns it needs to ring-fence its paddy fields to meet a growing demand for rice.

Unmilled rice production in the Philippines is expected to reach 17 million tonnes this year, from 16.24 million tonnes in 2007, but the increase in output is not enough to keep pace with rapid popul
ation growth, one of the highest in the region.

INDONESIA

INDONESIA, the world's most populous Muslim country, has said it expects to be able to feed its more than 230 million people this year. Yet it is not unaffected by the rise in rice prices – inflation, related to the global price surge is hitting all manner of consumer products.

This week Indonesia became the latest country to impose controls on rice exports.

BANGLADESH

BANGLADESH is one of Asia's most overpopulated countries and one of the the poorest. It is particularly vulnerable to rises in the price of its staple, rice.

Hundreds of poor families are now surviving on one meal a day, and spending 70-80 per cent of their budget on food.

More than half a million Bangladeshi troops were yesterday ordered to eat potatoes in an attempt to ease the impact of surging prices.

Asia's rice bowl empties and world price soars

[Barbara]

Loaf of Bread costs $16 Million Zimbabwe Dollars

digitaljournal.com

With rising inflation and election turmoil, the prices of basic food items have sky rocketed in Zimbabwe. A loaf of bread now costs $16 million Zimbabwe dollars.

Zimbabwe has had major financial problems for a long time, and isn't getting better with the recent elections. The opposition claimed it won the elections, but Mugabe is reluctant to give up power.

The rate of inflation is rising at a staggering rate and has reached 100,000 percent.

In January the Zimbabwe government issued a $10 million dollar currency note, this week they introduced a new $50 million dollar bill which is equivalent to 1.25 USD on the black market (officially it is worth 1.666 USD).

The new 50 million dollar note will enable Zimbabwean people to buy 3 loaves of bread.

Other recent news reported peanuts now cost 700 million a bucket in the region.

According to AP, this is the third time the nation's central bank has issued a higher denomination note in response to record inflation. Furthermore, some of these currencies have an expiration date.

Most people will probably agree this is a sad state of affairs for Zimbabwe. Mugabe should leave before he does any more lasting damage to his country.

 

[Soldier4Christ]

American retailers ration rice in response to global food crisis

The global food crisis is hitting consumers in the USA, with the nation's top retailer announcing that it's rationing rice because of "supply and demand trends," according to Reuters.

“We are limiting the sale of Jasmine, Basmati and Long Grain White Rices to four bags per member visit,” Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart, says in a statement cited by Fox Business News. “This is effective immediately in all of our U.S. clubs, where quantity restrictions are allowed by law.”

This follows reports of rationing at Costco.

The New York Sun says a sign above the rice at one of that wholesale club's stores said: "Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history."

The U.N.'s World Food Program blames a "silent tsunami" of global hunger on the rising price of food.

Rice, a key staple, costs 68% more than it did at the beginning of the year. BBC News says the prices of corn, soybeans and wheat are nearing all-time highs, too.

Last week, we told you that officials in Manila were threatening to jail anyone they catch hoarding rice in the Philippines.

That doesn't appear to have done much to resolve the shortage in that country. The Vancouver Sun says some Filipino expats have been sending boxes of rice to their friends and relatives back home.

"I talk to customers and they tell me that they are sending rice. They fill out declaration forms," shipper Cesar Lim tells the paper. "And I can feel it. I can sense that [the boxes are] heavy."

[Soldier4Christ]

It is only rumors so far but there is now talk on the internet of ration cards in the U.S. following after the implementation of them in India.

[Soldier4Christ]

Ration cards among solutions offered

Ration cards. Genetically modified crops. The end of pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap supermarkets.

These possible solutions to the first global food crisis since the Second World War -- which the World Food Program says already threatens 20 million of the poorest children -- are complex and controversial. And they may not even solve the problem as demand continues to soar.

A "silent tsunami" of hunger is sweeping the world's most desperate countries, said Josette Sheeran, the WFP's executive director, speaking yesterday at a London summit on the crisis.

The skyrocketing cost of food staples, stoked by rising fuel prices, unpredictable weather and demand from India and China, has already sparked sometimes violent protests across the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

The price of rice has more than doubled in the last five weeks, she said. The World Bank estimates food prices have risen by 83 per cent in three years.

[Barbara]

These things are not good news. Today we're going to buy alot of rice and beans. I feel we should stock up before there's more of a run on the supermarkets. I hope this is temporary but I don't want to take any chances. We were in NY on 9-11 and started back then to stock up on supplies. I'm not trying to be paranoid, just logically taking steps according to the signs of the times. Rationing is not typical in this country unless there's a war. Can there be another one on the horizon?

I think this news is our queue to take some extra precautions. I believe, like Joseph, we should take note of the information and act accordingly.

I do pray this dies down, though it doesn't seem to be for the people in the poorest countries, I know they need our prayers.

[Soldier4Christ]

Food-buying panic hits Canada stores
'The world crisis is obviously going to have a ripple effect'

With food riots spreading from Haiti to Thailand and retail giants such as Wal-Mart implementing rice rationing in the United States because of shrinking supplies, analysts say Canadians will soon be paying a lot more at the grocery store.

Already, panic buying has hit some Canadian stores.

Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers Association of Canada said he was getting calls in British Columbia that store shelves were being emptied of rice by panicked buyers. "I was in one of the national chains and there was one packet of rice left on the shelf."

"It's a human trait to hoard, but there is only so much food to hoard," he said. "The world crisis is obviously going to have a ripple effect into Canada."

Eating habits will be forced to change, says Cran, and its likely in the near future consumers will no longer have the option of fresh pineapples and oranges in the winter.

"My advice is to go speak to your granny and get a canning recipe before she leaves this world."

Maple Leaf Foods Inc., one of Canada's largest food processors, reported a loss on Thursday due to soaring costs for grain used in its bakeries and hog barns.

"These are stunningly, stunningly challenging and unique times," Chief Executive Michael McCain told shareholders at the company's annual meeting on Thursday.

"The world is embroiled with absorbing the implications of the simple truth that food will be considerably more expensive, well into the future," he said.

Rice prices jumped 5% in Thailand as prices surged to $1,000 a tonne on Thursday. The country has been hit by an increased demand from developing countries and poor crop yields.

World rice stocks are the lowest in 20 years and riots have broken out in Africa and Haiti. Adding to the problem is that India, Vietnam and Thailand have restricted exports.

The shortage has already begun to have an impact on North America.

Sam's Club, the wholesale unit of Wal-Mart announced Wednesday it was capping sales of nine kilogram bags of rice at four bags per customer per visit to prevent hoarding. The curb affects "specialty rice" including jasmine, basmati and long grain rice.

A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Canada said there are no plans to cap sales in Canada.

"We do not have restrictions on rice at any of our Canadian stores," said Karin Campbell on Thursday. She would not comment on whether there had been a run on rice at any of their Canadian outlets.

Canada hasn't seen as large an increase in food prices as other areas in the world but changing patterns in food use are having an impact on prices.

For example, corn is being used for ethanol production and putting pressure on the food industry, said David Wilkes, a spokesperson for The Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors.

"Ten years ago we didn't have to compete with that," he said. "It's a perfect storm of a variety of factors. We're even seeing prices go up for fresh fruit and vegetables that have to be trucked in."

Although Wilkes couldn't say how much Canadians can expect to see prices jump on grain staples such as rice and flour, he said the prices will begin to steadily climb. "I do believe that these changes are with us to stay."

Wilkes said Canada's major grocery chains did not anticipate restrictions either. "We do not believe it is necessary to follow restrictions."

But across the country, Canadian suppliers of foreign foods were feeling the pinch Thursday.

The wholesale price of specialty rice has doubled or almost doubled in the last five months because of shortages overseas, said Kanti Shah, co-owner of Shah Trading Co. in Montreal.

"Right now, the scenario is "Where can I get my rice?'," said Shah, a Kenyan-born Indian immigrant whose firm supplies Loblaws, Wal-Mart, Costco and other chains.

"It's definitely a crisis. I don't think it will get so bad that rice won't be available here, but the price will be high. You know, the Asian crowd in North America are major consumers of rice -- breakfast, lunch and dinner -- so they've been stocking up."

And in Toronto, Pascal Ribreau, owner of Celestin Bakery said wholesale prices have forced him to raise prices by 15%.

A manager at Hua Sheng supermarket in Toronto's Chinatown said customers recently have been buying larger bags of rice while the store has seen an increase in rice sales.

Three weeks ago the supermarket raised the price of several brands of rice $1 to $5 depending on size of the bag.