RICE SHORTAGE FEAR

Rice shortage fear

PETALING JAYA (Feb 13, 2011): MALAYSIA is increasing its purchases of rice from Thailand and Vietnam to build stockpiles amid fears of world food shortages and a looming grain crisis in China caused by drought.

Sources told Nanyang Siang Pau that the government, through its agency Bernas (Padiberas Nasional Bhd), is getting more rice from the two countries.

Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Chua Tee Yong has confirmed Malaysia is stockpiling rice as security against a possible global food crisis.

However, he declined to elaborate. Federation of Malaysian Rice Wholesalers president Ng Chee Len said Bernas has procured more rice over the last two years to ensure ample supply.

Ng, a director of Bernas, said the company not only buys on spot trades but also forward contracts of two to six months to build up the stockpiles.

He said Malaysia by itself cannot weather a global food crisis as the country is not producing enough rice to be self-sufficient.

"To achieve self-sufficiency, we need at least two to three years to alienate land and make other preparations such as for irrigation. It is not something that can be done overnight," he said.

He disclosed that other rice-importing south Asian countries, including Indonesia and Bangladesh, are also increasing their rice purchases from Thailand and Vietnam.

A Bangladeshi official was recently quoted as saying that Bangladesh, South Asia’s biggest rice importer, is to more than double state purchases of the grain this year.

However, Ng said Malaysia is still optimistic about the situation as the country has ample supply of both local and imported rice.

He also said the prices of rice are stable and unaffected by factors outside the country, he said.

"Although more and more south Asian countries have joined the ‘rice rush’, this has not posed a problem to Malaysia, and there is no need for us to be panicky," he added.

It would only become a problem if China, which is currently hit by drought, experiences a severe food shortage in the near future and also turns to Thailand and Vietnam for rice supply, thus igniting a global food crisis. – theSun

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