American Bakers' Association - US Rye Flour Supply Gone By June Or July - Reuters [View All]

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American bakers also are dealing with tight supplies. Rye flour stocks have been depleted and by June or July there will be no more US rye flour to purchase, said Lee Sanders, senior vice president for government relations and public affairs at the American Bakers Association. "Those that are purchasing it now are having to purchase it from Germany and the Netherlands, and that's very concerning," Sanders said. She cited high demand for rye flour, used to make rye bread, and less acreage devoted to rye grain than in the past.

Amid scarce global supplies of rice and soaring demand, rice on the Chicago Board of Trade rose more than 2 percent to the maximum allowed in one day, as investors poured more money into food and fuel-based commodities. With poorer nations struggling to find supplies, the Asian Development Bank criticized rice export bans, saying governments should instead use fiscal measures to help the poor.

"Banning of exports is no different from hoarding at a national level," Rajat Nag, the ADB's managing director general, told reporters at Singapore's Foreign Correspondents Association.

The price of rice from Thailand, the world's No. 1 exporter, has more than doubled this year. The benchmark Thai 100 percent B grade white rice was quoted at a historic high at $950 a tonne this week RICE/ASIA1, up from $383 earlier this year.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48104/story.htm