Report: Costco seeing higher demand for food staples

[Newsjock]

Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Costco Wholesale Corp. is seeing higher-than-usual demand for staple foods such as rice and flour as consumers worry about a global food shortage, according to a Tuesday report by the Reuters news service.

Chief Executive James Sinegal told the wire service in an interview that the Issaquah-based company is managing the situation. "If we run out, we're usually back in stock the next day," he said.

His assistant told the Seattle P-I on Tuesday that he is declining further interviews.

... Many analysts, including Britain's opposition leader David Cameron, claim that people in the West will need to eat less meat -- and consume, or waste, less food in general. Some expect the shift in attitudes to herald the end of supermarket giveaways and cost-cutting grocery stores that stack goods to the ceiling and sell in bulk.

Read more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/360096_foodshortage23.html

[tridim]

1. Americans are hoarding food now. Unbelievable.

Is rationing far off?

Gee, thanks Republicans.

[PSPS]

2. Rationing isn't "far off"

It's already here.

[crikkett]

24. Dude, limits on purchases at one store is not rationing. Don't Panic.

And the article you post is from a tabloid, the NY Sun, and its lead paragraph reports on unsubstantiated rumors that people are hoarding food.

That could mean that the reporter's wife bought home a 20lb sack of rice and a 10lb sack of pinto beans.

[PSPS]

39. Well, maybe this will suit your criterion better

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2323679120080423

[barb162]

5. It's a global food shortage and doesn't have much to do with Bush.

It's more about over-population, less arable land, desertification, etc. I do find it some what surprising people are hoarding here though.

[Lorien]

11. Too much cable news, not enough rational thought.

Americans will probably have a lot of ROTTING food in their cellars in a few months time.

[Dreamer Tatum]

17. I guess we'll see bags of rice for sale on Craigslist soon

These threads have got to be the stupidest things on DU right now. There is nothing like a food shortage in this country. If anyone bothers to read the article about Costco, the CEO says "yeah, we run out, but we stock up the next day." That's not a shortage, that's a freaking inconvenience, and an insult to people in truly hungry nations. If your favorite Basmati is out, then heaven forfend you make do with Arborio. On the other hand, if you're Haitian, you don't move over 12 inches on the grocery aisle, you freaking go to bed hungry. So some guy with room in his SUV to carry giant bags of rice can't get what he wants from Costco immediately? Forgive me if I fail to become concerned...I'm sure he'll just go drown his sorrows with a $4 cup of Starbucks.

Let's apply a little critical thought. Ten pounds of rice at Albertson's is $6.99 and is in stock at all three stores around me. I can have it delivered to my home for FREE if I like. A gallon of gas is $3.80 where I fill up. Ten pounds of rice will last eons longer than two gallons of gas, but we're supposed to believe that people are now hoarding RICE?

Sorry, but that's pure bullshit. Yes, food prices are spiking, no doubt, and people are hurting, but claims of food hoarding and rationing in this country are laughable. And no, it's not coming soon, either.

[barb162]

36. I agree but at the same time there are food shortages going on

around the world right now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7324596.stm

[Dreamer Tatum]

38. Which is exactly the distinction. Agreed. nt

[crikkett]

25. what gets me is the BPA 'recall' on plastic baby bottles but

the same plastic lines canned food. We're fucked coming and going.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/bpa-danger-from-cans.php

[barb162]

35. LOL

:hi:

[Psephos]

6. It's not unbelievable. It's common as grass . The only real shortage is rational thinking.

And knowledge of history, I might add.

[blue sky at night]

3. cutting down on meat....

we should all be thinking along those lines....the waste in the system is the key, we could easily feed the world if we all cut way back.

http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/environment.html

Gallons of water required to produce one pound
of various foods (236)

Number of people whose caloric needs
can be met on 2.5 acres of land
for the following foods (294)

[uppityperson]

4. Do you really steal other people's images?

[blue sky at night]

9. oh, no one ever posts a photo or graphic from another website....

right. sorry if I ruffled your feathers, have another burger and chill out.

[awoke_in_2003]

12. I don't think he was

calling you a thief. He was commenting on the text that appears in the images you posted.

[uppityperson]

14. No, I'm laughing at what appears in your post

BIG black square with BIG yellow letters saying "I steal other people's images". Perhaps you haven't looked since you posted it, I'd advise you to.

[blue sky at night]

16. thanks for the heads up...

I try to do the guy a favor and he puts that in the file...it doesn't show on my side.

[pinniped]

22. I'm sure that guy never dragged random images from a website to his hard drive.

.

[liberal N proud]

29. Probably where he/she got those graphics

[crikkett]

27. it doesn't show on your desk b/c you have the images cached.

Your pal probably doesn't want a bill for the bandwidth...

[crispini]

30. It's always best to upload things to photobucket.

To avoid what just happened to you. A bit more of a pain, but hotlinking is frowned on by more and more webmasters these days.

[crikkett]

26. the website he linked from just doesn't appreciated hotlinking.

DU only supports hotlinking.

[corporatemedia]

8. Just don't steal that food I'm hoarding!

[barb162]

7. What causes the price increases

WHAT CAUSED THE PRICE RISES?
22/04/2008
Bob Watson, the chief scientist at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, puts the rise in the price of commodity crops such as wheat down to a number of factors: higher demand for grain to feed livestock in China, where increasing affluence means more people want to eat meat; drought in Australia for three years, meaning it has had to import wheat; market jitters brought on by the sight of several countries stopping exporting grain; speculators seeing a chance to make money; and, of course, the sudden extra demand for food crops such as maize for use in biofuels, in both Europe and the United States.

A few years ago, he points out, no one could have predicted that we would be aiming to produce five to 10 per cent of our petrol and diesel from crops.

WHY SHOULD THE PRICE OF RICE HAVE GONE UP, TOO?

Since January 2007, the price of wheat has risen by as much as two and a half times, while the rice price has almost trebled.

This, says the International Rice Research Institute, is partly because rice-growing land in countries such as the Philippines is being lost to industrialisation and urbanisation, while the growing appetite for meat and dairy products among Asia's burgeoning middle class is leading farmers to abandon rice growing. Flooding in Indonesia and Bangladesh and cold weather in Vietnam and China have also hit production.

snip
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/04/22/scifood122.xml

[Lorien]

10. Not surprising. The beef and bacon fans around here will never accept the

fact that meat production is hell on the environment and starves the poor, and the anti-ZPG folks will never acknowledge the fact that non-stop population growth is a serious problem that will cause billions to suffer and destroy the planet.Sadly, the right wingers aren't the only ones with their heads in the sand on these issues.

[awoke_in_2003]

13. Well, I am a beef and bacon fan

however, I am taking steps to move away from it. Used to have meet at least once every day. Now down to twice a week. I really miss the bacon, but I don't miss the weight I am losing.

[crispini]

31. congrats! it is worth it.

I am becoming more veg myself. :hi:

[Hannah Bell]

18. That is a bunch of crap. The 2007 global rice crop was 1% higher than

the 2006 crop.

Prices went up within 3 months of the global real estate meltdown. This story started with a stupid article in the right-wing ny sun about a limitation on 50-pound sacks of rice in 1 costco.

It was then repeated by fox news, then by glen what's his face (winger) on CNN, & now by the reasonably reputable Seattle paper & the winger Telegraph.

Someone's trying to induce panic. This is not good.

[ryanmuegge]

19. This is pure market manipulation, I imagine.

You can't tell me that things changed this drastically in like 6 months.

[Dreamer Tatum]

20. Of course they can

Australia is in the third year of a drought, and rice yields around Asia have been light lately. Supply is temporarily low until a better crop comes.

[Hannah Bell]

23. cite for the "light" yields in asia? n/t

[barb162]

34. You're wrong. Try the BBC

BBC isn't right wing, but the Telegraph article I posted is just as aaccurate as the BBC. BTW, if you don't like the Telegraph, too bad, it's an acceptable source here. This isn't some right wing conspiracy, it's about global trends asmentioned by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

"Asian states feel rice pinch
11 April 2008

The price of the staple crop has risen by as much as 70% during the last year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with increases accelerating in recent weeks.

Shortages have begun to hit some importing countries.

Factors contributing to the price rise include:


Poor harvests resulting from extreme weather

A rise in demand in some rice-importing countries, where populations and incomes are growing

The expectation of further price increases - resulting in hoarding

Low stockpiles and a long term lack of agricultural investment
snip
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7324596.stm

[Hannah Bell]

43. There are always "bad harvests" somewhere in the world. Usually accompanied by "good

harvests" elsewhere, or in other crops, if agriculture is sufficiently diversified. I invite you to look at the production statistics, rather than read articles which highlight certain facts to the neglect of others:

4/08 report of the Food & Agriculture Organization:

World Rice Production

2005/06: 418.1 million tons
2006/07: 420.6 million tons

China 05/06: 126.4 million tons
China 06/07: 127.8 million tons

India 05/06: 91.8 million tons
India 06/07: 93.4 million tons


Where is the biggest drop between 06 & 07? Not in China, not in India, the countries who supposedly are growing their incomes & demand: they're basically self-sufficient, & India was planning to export millions of tons until the prices spiked & they pulled back to protect their domestic market.

The biggest drop in production was right here in the US, & it wasn't because of bad harvests: it was because rice farmers planted less because prices had been below average:

US 2005/06: 7.1 million tons
US 2006/07: 6.2 million tons

http://www.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/psdgetreport.aspx?hidReportRetrievalName=BVS&hidReportRetrievalID=425&hidReportRetrievalTemplateID=2

[Bigmack]

15. Was in Costco...

the other day and saw a guy with one of the big flat carts filled with rice. 16 big bags. Dunno how much in each bag, but it had to be at least 25 lbs each.

[raebrek]

32. He might sell it at his local asian food store.

I have friends that purchase their rice at Costco to sell at their asian food stores.

Raebrek!!!

[JDPriestly]

21. Years ago, while we were living in London, there was a rumored

shortage of toilet paper. Responding to the rumor, people bought extra toilet paper and began hoarding. What happened? You guessed it. A shortage of toilet paper developed. Finally, we were told that the rumor was false and there really wasn't any shortage. Things eventually went back to normal.

[crikkett]

28. that's a releif... you can live a few mos w/o rice but no TP??

boggles the mind.

[raebrek]

33. Something similar happened here.

Johnny Carson made a joke about there being a toilet paper shortage and, well the link explains what happened.

http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/trivia74.html

Raebrek!!!

[JDPriestly]

41. Yep! London, 1973. That's the same shortage I was talking about.

So Johnny Carson started that rumor. How funny. A transatlantic shortage of toilet paper all due to a rumor on Johnny Carson. Gosh, did that guy have power or what?

[earth mom]

37. I remember my mom stocking up on sugar in the 70s because of shortages...

and in the 80s a few years after she died, my dad was stocking up on coffee for the same reason.

I've been worried not about food shortages, but rather skyrocketing prices as a reason to stock pile now. The only problem is the cost to stockpile months of food and storage issues.

I've started to stock up a little bit, but not enough to make a big difference. I keep thinking that if we don't get a 2 or 3 month (or more) supply in, I may be kicking myself later. :shrug:

[kestrel91316]

40. Perhaps people are buying more staple items because they

are WISELY buying less convenience food. A return to preparing our own food would not be a bad thing.

[underpants]

44. Flour- frying and gravy were staples of the diets of poor people

Just saying

[kestrel91316]

45. I buy a lot of flour - because I bake my own bread and

breakfast scones and such rather than buying store crap.

I realize, of course, that rich people probably would look down on me for doing so. But I honestly think I eat a lot better (as in "healthier) than most people.

Hey - whatcha got against GRAVY?????

[underpants]

42. Covered by WIC and Food stamps???

:shrug:

The increase in food stamps and WIC usage could be a factor