Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Sam’s Club warehouse unit is restricting purchases of some types of rice to four bags a visit as prices reached a record in Chicago futures trading. The limits on jasmine, basmati and long-grain white rice, a response to “recent supply and demand trends,” will be put into effect in all U.S. stores where allowed by law and are effective immediately, Sam’s Club spokeswoman Kristy Reed said today in an e-mailed statement. Some consumers have started hoarding rice, the food staple for half the world as prices soar and supplies shrink. China, Vietnam, India and Egypt have curbed sales abroad to safeguard domestic supplies and cool inflation. Thailand also may restrict shipments, a World Bank official said today. ‘The warehouse clubs are doing it to protect their business customers, like smaller restaurants, caterers, nursing homes, day-care centers,” said food consultant Jim Degen. “The business members are the most important members in warehouse clubs because they generate so much more revenue per member.” Degen is a principal of J.M. Degen & Co., a food industry marketing consulting firm based in Templeton, California. Some of Costco Wholesale Corp.’s stores, including locations in California, have put limits […]
Pollution is dulling the scent of flowers and impeding some of the most basic processes of nature, disrupting insect life and imperilling food supplies, a new study suggests. The potentially hugely significant research – funded by the blue-chip US National Science Foundation – has found that gases mainly formed from the emissions of car exhausts prevent flowers from attracting bees and other insects in order to pollinate them. And the scientists who have conducted the study fear that insects’ ability to repel enemies and attract mates may also be impeded. The researchers – at the University of Virginia – say that pollution is dramatically cutting the distance travelled by the scent of flowers. Professor Jose Fuentes, who led the study, said: ‘Scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment could travel for roughly 1,000 to 1,200 metres. But today they may travel only 200 to 300 metres. This makes it increasingly difficult for bees and other insects to locate the flowers.’ The researchers – who worked on the scent given off by snapdragons – found that the molecules are volatile, and quickly bond with pollutants such as ozone and nitrate radicals, mainly formed from vehicle […]
The price of a food staple — rice — is rising significantly, NBC11 reported. The price of rice has increased dramatically in recent weeks due to crop failure overseas and resulting hoarding, NBC11 reported. And at least one Bay Area store is asking customers to hold back on their rice purchases. Costco has posted signs asking customers to follow their regular rice-buying habits. The rice price increase is a result of a domino effect, NBC11’s Noelle Walker reported. Drought in Australia led to a severe decline in rice production that in turn led the world’s largest rice exporters to restrict exports. That spurred higher rice prices and hoarding in Asian countries, NBC11 reported. Now in the United States, rice prices have skyrocketed. Son Tran owns Le Cheval Vietnamese Restaurant in Oakland. He said he’s seen the price of rice go from $20 to $40 in a matter of weeks. And Le Cheval’s stockpiles are dwindling. Add to that, the price of vegetables has gone up 50 percent, and some of Tran’s regular customers aren’t so regular anymore. The empty tables are a new and troubling trend. Rice isn’t the only […]
CHICAGO — Soaring fuel costs. Flights cut. Jobs lost. The parent company of United Airlines reported a worse-than-expected quarterly loss Tuesday, citing a string of problems that are hurting other carriers as well. And for travelers, a vacation season of jammed planes, delayed flights and higher fares looms in what’s shaping up as the worst of times for both airlines and their customers. ‘It’s going to be a rough summer,’ said Terry Trippler, a Minneapolis-based travel expert. ‘It’s going to be one where you’ve got to plan another day into your travel schedule’ just to prepare for schedule chaos. Months of rising concerns about the consequences of higher fuel prices jumped to new levels of anxiety among investors on a gloomy combination of developments that sent UAL Corp. shares down a staggering 35 percent and battered other airline stocks. Not only did United post a $537 million first-quarter loss and announce cutbacks accordingly, crude oil surged near the once-unthinkable $120-a-barrel mark and Delta Air Lines Inc. CEO Richard Anderson said domestic carriers would need to raise fares by 15 percent to 20 percent just to break even. With weaker demand because of the economy, cutbacks […]
LOS ANGELES — The number of California homes lost to foreclosure in the first quarter surged 327% from year-ago levels — reaching an average of more than 500 foreclosures per day — DataQuick said in a report, warning that the widening foreclosure problem could ‘spread beyond the current categories of dicey mortgages, and into mainstream home loans.’ From DataQuick’s report on California foreclosures in the first three months of 2008: ‘Trustees Deeds recorded, or the actual loss of a home to foreclosure, totaled 47,171 during the first quarter. … Last quarter’s total rose 48.9 percent from 31,676 in the previous quarter, and jumped 327.6 percent from 11,032 in first quarter 2007.’ That translates into 517 foreclosures every day in the first quarter of 2008. DataQuick president Marshall Prentice: ‘The main factor behind this foreclosure surge remains the decline in home values. Additionally, a lot of the ‘loans-gone-wild’ activity happened in late 2005 and 2006 and that’s working its way through the system. The big ‘if’ right now is whether or not the economy is in recession. If it is, the foreclosure problem could spread beyond the current categories of dicey mortgages, and into mainstream home loans.’ […]
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