Sugat. Catcher in the rice

Supermarket restricts rice purchasing

Desperate quest for rice reaches Isarel; Supersol chain limits purchases to three packs a day, removing the restriction only early Sunday. Supermarket chains estimate 50% price-hike within days; Sugat argues for 70%

Michel Dor|Published: 04.27.08 , 15:41

The Supersol supermarket chain has restricted rice sales. The chain limited its consumers to three rice packs during Thursday and Friday. This follows a shortage in rice throughout the global markets.

Supersol said early Sunday that “due to the global shortage in rice reaching Israel too, we have been forced to limit rice purchasing. At this point we are removing this restriction, until further changes in the global rice supply dictate otherwise.”

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Private grocery store shoppers have also reported a shortage in rice and instances where owners restricted their rice purchase. The Blue Square chain, however, has not restricted rice purchasing.

Prices are expected to increase by 50%

Rice prices will soon increase by 50% throughout the supermarket chains, sources in the retail sector estimate. Last week, rice broke an all-time record: $24.7 per 100 lbs. In some of the grocery stores and mini-markets, prices have increased by a large percentage early Sunday.

“I expect a price-hike of up to 70% in a matte of days,” Sugat Spokesman Gilles Agmon told Ynet. “We have never experienced such a phenomenon, and I’m not sure there’s ever been such a case since the State was established,” Agmon added. Agmon does not foresee a solution for the problem, and says they can supply the large demand unless consumers panic and start buying rice for storage.

Grocery owners and food chain managers claim that rice importers are pressuring them to hike the price. “We keep delaying the price-hike, biding time,” a senior employee of one of the food chains told Ynet. “We have succeeded in fighting off the suppliers during the holiday, but the increase is inevitable,” he added.

The increase in rice rates have led to a global mass starvation and upheaval. The UN estimates that 100 million people are under starvation danger due to the price-hike. Many governments worldwide have restricted the consumption and pricing of rice; in Sri Lanka, the government even sent police officers to confiscate rice from stores.