West Central Florida Republican Assembly

There’s been no panic buying run yet, but Tampa Bay food sellers are rationing bulk buys of Asian basmati and jasmine long-grain white rice in hopes of avoiding one.

“We’ve got plenty of supply,” said Trevor Knowles, front-end manager at Costco Wholesale Club in Clearwater, which is limiting rice purchases to seven 25- to 50-pound bags per trip. “We just want to be sure people don’t create a shortage by hoarding.”

It’s another facet of the global food shortage showing up in the Tampa Bay area. Drought in Australia, bad weather in Vietnam and Thailand, rising customer demand, soaring prices and food shortages that unleashed riots in some Third World countries have combined to help trigger a form of food rationing locally at places where many restaurants get their rice. Some rice-producing countries have restricted exports so they can feed their own people.

Full Story: Stores start rationing rice

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