The price of rice
(So who are your rice buying customers?) Asian immigrants and they usually buy jasmine rice which comes from Thailand. The cost has doubled from 49 cents a pound to $1.09 a pound in about three weeks. (So has that price rice affected other rice?) The first was jasmine and then long white rice from Texas as well. That price has also doubled. There’s been a shortage now in long, white rice. (Have distributors raised the price or is it just your market?) They have a bit but not as much compared to jasmine. (Are there other substitutes you need to come up with?) We carry 20-plus kinds of rice. We have other options and I think we’ll be ok. (I know some of the warehouse stores are putting limits on buying rice, how about you?) No, we’re not putting any limit. My Asian friends say their parents are the ones who are panicking really. But we can adjust and we’re not going to run out of rice.
The story you just read is accessible and free to all because our listener community contributes to our nonprofit newsroom. We go deep to bring you the human-centered international reporting that you know you can trust. To do this work and to do it well, we rely on the support of our listeners. If you appreciate our coverage, if there has been a story that made you pause or a song that moved you, would you consider making a gift to sustain our work? All donations between now and June 30 will be matched 2:1, tripling your impact.