Rise of the Price of Rice. What's causing this?

[gaidinX]

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Personally, I would say the market is manipulated.
I'm a conspiracy theorist.

[digitalsuperman]

politics is causing it..

[David Dennis]

Well, let's try and look at this impartially.

It would appear that there are shortages of rice everywhere - Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, the Philippines, everywhere. If you run this Google News query, you will get tons of articles. If we could only convert those articles into rice there would be no more shortage!

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ne...nG=Search+News

So it seems doubtful that this is a Philippines problem exclusively. I don't think it would be feasible for the Philppines or any other single country to manipulate the global market.

There is, however, at least one example of questionable farm policy.

Fear of land reform, where big estates are broken up and given to individual farmers, is a factor. If you own land and can't keep it if it is agricultural, then of course you are going to try and sell it for development:

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/...80406top4.html

I'm not an expert on land reform so I don't know whether land reform per se was good or bad for production. I seem to remember that a similar policy without loopholes wound up wrecking Zimbabuwe's economy and sending the country into a tailspin. The land was taken from productive farmers and given not to farm workers, but to the politically connected who didn't have a clue how to farm. I think the balance of power is different in the Philippines, so the oligarchs were able to keep their land and sell it off as building lots instead of losing it entirely. Good for them but bad for farmers and for rice production.

This seems like a good summary of the global situation. Note that the Philippines is not even mentioned, buttressing my claim that this is a global problem and not strictly Filipino:

http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=420165

I hope this gives an interesting perspective on this situation.

D

[cebu1029]

i know! its a global crisis! so is the oil! but a lot of people are blaming the president and the government for this!

[gaidinX]

Found this excellent article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/op...in&oref=slogin

Apparently, biofuels can also be blamed for this problem we are facing now.

[David Dennis]

You are correct, GaidenX, although I don't believe that's a rice problem, more with corn.

Ironically enough, E85 (85% ethanol) fuel sold in the USA is sufficiently weak in energy that even though it's much cheaper per gallon than gasoline it's still significantly more expensive per mile.

So this whole biofuel craze hasn't actually helped people - it's just bid up the price of foodstuffs.

You should consider biodiesel if you want a cost-effective alternative fuel. It's created from old cooking oil that's otherwise thrown out or disposed of. Often restaurants have to pay to get rid of it and so they are happy to have people take it off their hands at no cost.

It's a royal pain to make, though. I looked up the processes and it's not too expensive to set up (a few hundred dollars) but it's pretty labor intensive.

I would think it would work well in the Philppines because if my memory serves you consume a lot of fried foods and so there should be a lot of used oil out there.

D

[pandisal]

OT: It will be a cause of people going after your car for a fresh cook french fries...

You are correct, GaidenX, although I don't believe that's a rice problem, more with corn.

Ironically enough, E85 (85% ethanol) fuel sold in the USA is sufficiently weak in energy that even though it's much cheaper per gallon than gasoline it's still significantly more expensive per mile.

So this whole biofuel craze hasn't actually helped people - it's just bid up the price of foodstuffs.

You should consider biodiesel if you want a cost-effective alternative fuel. It's created from old cooking oil that's otherwise thrown out or disposed of. Often restaurants have to pay to get rid of it and so they are happy to have people take it off their hands at no cost.

It's a royal pain to make, though. I looked up the processes and it's not too expensive to set up (a few hundred dollars) but it's pretty labor intensive.

I would think it would work well in the Philppines because if my memory serves you consume a lot of fried foods and so there should be a lot of used oil out there.

D

[ikaw_ako_filipino]

market is manipulated. greedy businessmen and politicians!

[angelfyre]

rice millers are the culprit

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb...ce.crisis.html
check dat link, esp. the statements of teresa alegado. mao nay tinuod.

[noviam]

i think it's the President's strategy para mawani ang issue sa ZTE scandal !