Bangladesh could not buy any rice at all this week

[phantom power]

Rice traders hit by panic as prices surge

Rice prices hit the $1,000-a-tonne level for the first time as panicking importers Thursday scrambled to secure supplies, exacerbating the tightness already provoked by export restrictions in Vietnam, India, Egypt, China and Cambodia.

The jump came as the Philippines, the largest rice importer, failed for the fourth time to secure as much rice as it wanted.

The unsuccessful tender followed Bangladesh's inability to buy any rice at all this week.

http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto041720081406499365

[GliderGuider]

1. Why don't they all just become vegetarians? That way they'd need less grain, right?

Oh, wait...

Oh heck, "Let them eat mud cake!"

[phantom power]

2. this story took me aback...

when you read that a major city cannot buy any rice, it causes a person to think that things are getting bad faster than expected.

I mean, not just "had trouble because it was expensive." But couldn't get it.