Due in part to tech companies like Texas Instruments and EDS, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex has a sizeable Asian community, definitely sizeable enough to clearly distinguish Koreans from Indians.
So, it’s no surprise the worldwide rice crunch is hitting Big D.
The weird thing is, according to one agricultural analysis, this is a result of increasing prosperity in developing nations:
“This price spike has not been driven by a bad monsoon or some other weather phenomenon like people might expect,” said Nathan Childs, an economist and expert on the world's rice supply. “The easiest way to explain it is in terms of supply and demand.”
The price of rice began to rise last year when India, Vietnam, China and later Egypt imposed various restrictions on the export of rice.
Each country had its own reasons, but in India and China, Mr. Childs said, the price spike was actually caused by economic prosperity.
As tens of millions of people shifted into the middle class, they began eating less rice and more meat, poultry and dairy products. Rice that used to feed the poor increasingly ended up in the bellies of livestock. Rice supplies dwindled, and prices rose. Government leaders, hoping to keep supplies up and prices low, imposed export bans.
Small consolation to the Indians, Vietnamese and Chinese here in metro Dallas.
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