Fear of rice riots as surge in demand hits nations across the Far East
pluto
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/consumer_goods/article3701347.ece
Armed guards for rice deliveries will become a common sight in many countries in
East Asia
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent
Any farmer in the Philippines caught hoarding rice risks spending the rest of
his life in jail for the crime of “economic sabotage”.
Meanwhile, on the streets of Jakarta, Indonesia, thousands of makers of
traditional tempeh soyabean cakes strike in protest as their livelihoods are
destroyed and their countrymen starve. In Malaysia, where immense palm oil
plantations stretch as far as the eye can see, panic buying of palm oil has
stripped stores bare.
Chinese, Korean and Japanese companies are preparing to compete in a desperate
“land grab” for agricultural land across the globe. Japan already owns three
times more farmland overseas than in its home territory; Seoul is keen to do the
same.
For Asia's 2.5 billion people who depend on rice, these are anything but
isolated incidents. They are what happens when huge sections of society move
into the cities, when farm productivity growth halves over two decades and when
bad weather or disease exposes fragile dependencies on the exports of a few
nations.
The more than doubling of China's average meat consumption since 1985, for
example, has created an equivalent leap in demand for animal feed.
The US Department of Agriculture believes that the world will suffer a 29
million tonne discrepancy this year between what it needs to feed itself and
what it can actually produce. Markets have been quick to recognise this and the
traditional Asian staples of soyabeans, palm oil and pork have all soared.
Many grain and edible oil markets have also been squeezed by what some observers
believe is an unsustainable conflict between cars and stomachs. Land that might
previously have been used to feed people is increasingly planted with crops
designed for conversion to biofuels, forcing unexpected rises in the prices of
everything from tofu to instant noodles.
But perhaps more unsettling has been the suddenness with which Asia's exposure
to a food crisis has emerged. Countries that, until a few weeks ago, could rely
on substantial imports of rice from India, Egypt or China are scrambling to cope
with a new reality in which they cannot do so.
Nations such as Japan and South Korea that were running food economies with
small self-sufficiency ratios have taken only a few weeks to react bitterly to
the new situation as the world's food stocks-to-consumption ratio plunges to an
all-time low.
India - which traditionally has exported millions of tonnes of rice - has
decided to set aside a special strategic food reserve on top of its existing
wheat and rice stockpiles. Vietnam, the world's third-largest rice producer, has
been forced to curb exports and Cambodia has banned them completely.
In Thailand, the world's largest producer of rice, rising concerns of a shortage
have sent rice prices more than 50 per cent higher over the past month. When
Samak Sundaravej, the Thai Prime Minister, appeared on his weekly television
cooking show over the weekend he told Thais there would be “enough rice for the
Kingdom”.
It was not a message designed to calm nerves elsewhere in Asia where Thai rice
exports are an essential part of the diet.
Amid these highly visible signs of government-level panic, Asian countries that
have rarely faced severe conflicts of “resource diplomacy” are accordingly
readying themselves for showdowns.
Analysts give warning of governments across the region resorting to a
“starve-your-neighbour” policy in an effort to becalm rioting domestic
populations, and the UN International Fund for Agriculture has previously said
that food riots will become commonplace.
In the Philippines and Sri Lanka, both nations that are heavily dependent on
rice imports, politicians and business leaders are racing to strike deals with
the likes of Vietnam and even Burma in their bid to secure rice supplies.
Troops and special police are expected to be used in the process of distributing
rice to regions where supply was never an issue.
33% Rise since January in price paid by Philippines for rice from Vietnam
3 billion People worldwide who rely on rice as a staple food
40% Rise in rice price in Thailand this year
19.2% Rise in consumer prices in Vietnam last month, against March 2007
8.4% Rise in food prices in the Philippines last month, compared with March 2007
854 million Number of people worldwide who are “food insecure”
1 billion People globally who survive on less than $1 a day, defined as
“absolute poverty”
Fear of rice riots as surge in demand hits nations across the Far East
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TouchingU
land to rent at a good cheap rate?
"pluto" <pl...@yahoo.com.sg> wrote in message
news:01elv3ts3vsn4iinf...@4ax.com...
pluto
this message <01elv3ts3vsn4iinf...@4ax.com> from
<47fd9...@news.tm.net.my> subject as: Re: Fear of rice riots as surge in
demand hits nations across the Far East:
wrote/and/or quoted:
>I want to become a rice farmer. Where, who do I go to see to get a piece of
>land to rent at a good cheap rate?
too late, lah touvchingu
all land inlcuding drains, toilets, river banks, beaches are taken up
try aqua culture on your hdb rooftops
hehehehehheh
yansimon52
> I want to become a rice farmer. Where, who do I go to see to get a piece of
> land to rent at a good cheap rate?
>
> "pluto" <pl...@yahoo.com.sg> wrote in message
>
> news:01elv3ts3vsn4iinf...@4ax.com...> Fear of rice riots as surge in demand hits nations across the Far East
>
Try Bali................overthere they got rich volcanic soil
Oso, can be an exporter for those interior decoration items
TouchingU
Want to struggle on a piece of land oso cannot.
"pluto" <pl...@yahoo.com.sg> wrote in message
news:1d9rv3hhli9nb6l43...@4ax.com...