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Rice Is the New Oil

Rising food prices threaten a more serious global crisis

By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 27, 2008 3:31 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Even as the burgeoning price of oil slaps consumers at the pump, a darker global market crisis looms as rising commodities prices compound the pressures of poverty worldwide. The UN has said that spiking food prices have started "a silent tsunami threatening to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger." Newsweek investigates the causes, which are both complicated and simple.

Crop failures are part of it, as are the fuel prices that drive up the costs of transport and fertilization. Investor speculation has played a role, as has government policy, but the main driving factor is increased demand. Rising standards of living in places such as India and China mean that more people are eating better, and more, than ever before.

Inflation at the wholesale level in the U.S. soared in March at nearly triple the rate that had been expected as the costs of energy and food both climbed rapidly.
Inflation at the wholesale level in the U.S. soared in March at nearly triple the rate that had been expected as the costs of energy and food both climbed rapidly.   (AP Photo/Ric Francis)
World rice prices have risen sharply this year because of growing demand and poor weather in some rice-producing countries.
World rice prices have risen sharply this year because of growing demand and poor weather in some rice-producing countries.   (AP Photo/Gautam Singh)
Bags of jasmine rice are shown on a shelf at 22nd & Irving Market in San Francisco, Friday, April 25, 2008. U.S. rice futures have hit a record high amid global food inflation.
Bags of jasmine rice are shown on a shelf at 22nd & Irving Market in San Francisco, Friday, April 25, 2008. U.S. rice futures have hit a record high amid global food inflation.   (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Kashmiri children eat rice outside a roadside hotel in Srinagar, India. Some Asian countries, including India and Vietnam, recently suspended rice exports to guarantee their own supplies.
Kashmiri children eat rice outside a roadside hotel in Srinagar, India. Some Asian countries, including India and Vietnam, recently suspended rice exports to guarantee their own supplies.   (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
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Senegalese protest high prices
Reuters

Philippine government starts relief program
International Herald Tribune

In Malaysia, advice is: eat less rice
Star (Malaysia)

No simple solution
Vancouver Sun

US • World

 
China • food • United Nations • India • hunger • poverty • food prices • speculation • rice prices • hunger riots

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