[ad_1]
Indians in the United States resorted to panic-buying rice after the South Asian country announced an export ban on the grain following the heavy monsoon rains that caused significant damage to crops.
Several videos were shared on social media in which people could be seen filling their grocery carts full of rice bags while some of them also climbed up the grocery store shelves to reach for them.
A short video clip was shared by a Twitter user in which people were seen scrambling and elbowing each other.
“I came to know from workers in Indian groceries, Costco has stocks but they [are] afraid of Indians climbing racks to snatching #rice bags, may fell over other customers and get hurt. This is very shameful. Below is from Indian groceries,” the video was captioned.
“I visited almost 10 plus stores. I started looking for a bag of Sona Massori [a variety of rice] at 9am and it wasn’t until 4.00pm that I could finally lay my hands on a bag of rice at triple its usual price,” one Indian-American named Aruna from Washington DC was quoted as saying by ANI.
The Indian government halted its largest rice export category, sending Non-Resident Indians [NRIs] into a frenzy who are rushing to the stores to secure their supply of rice which is essential to their cuisine.
India accounts for more than 40% of world rice exports, and low inventories with other exporters mean any cut in shipments could inflate food prices already driven up by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year and erratic weather.
The government said it was imposing a ban on non-basmati white rice after retail rice prices climbed 3% in a month after late but heavy monsoon rains which led to damage to the crops.
“In order to ensure adequate availability of non-basmati white rice in the Indian market and to allay the rise in prices in the domestic market, the government of India has amended the export policy,” the food ministry had said in a statement that cited an 11.5% increase in retail prices over 12 months.
The move demonstrates the sensitivity of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to food inflation ahead of a general election nearly next year.
His administration has extended a ban on wheat exports after curbing rice shipments in September 2022. It also capped sugar exports this year as cane yields dropped.
— Additional input from Reuters.
[ad_2]
