Rice hoarding: the long and short of it

Don't worry. If you didn't rearrange your pantry last weekend to accommodate a 50-pound bag of rice like your hoarding neighbors, you can still buy rice in Puget Sound area stores.

However, rice is going to grow more and more expensive and imported varieties will be harder to come by. Get used to it.Sure, Costco and Sam's Club stores began some rationing of rice sales last week, mostly as a means to ensure supply won't be snapped up by restaurants and other large purchasers trying to avoid price increases. And emptying rice shelves at local grocery stores showed consumers were responding to the information.

Some of the rush might be overblown at this point. Retailers, rice producers and federal officials say supplies are still generally good in the United States — even though record-high prices and low stocks have spawned civil unrest elsewhere in the world. U.S. rice acreage is expected to be slightly higher than last year's, but global demand for that rice is much more acute.

If anything, U.S. rationing at some stores is staving off a price hike, if only in the short term.

Global factors are impacting the availability of rice and, to a lesser extent, flour. Among them are more demand from developing countries, higher cost of production because of fuel costs, poor crop yields and the limits on what kind of land can accommodate rice production.

The crisis of a world rice shortage has not hit the United States, but it is sure being felt.