Living in the US-Mexico borderlands, residents grow up eating mouth-watering, inexpensive meals rounded off by beans and rice. At least that was the case until now. In El Paso, Texas, residents are stunned by sharp price increases that saw the wholesale value of a ton of Thai-produced rice shoot up by more than 100 percent since last January. At the retail level, rice prices increased by ten percent just last month, according to government reports. El Paso resident Estela Garcia is among locals who are expressing mounting concern about the availability and affordability of a culturally-defining food.

“But as we know everything goes up in this country, except wages. I hope that other grains don’t go up, like wheat, which is also a staple,” Garcia said.

In Garcia’s hometown, the international rice price crisis made local news last week when Sam’s Club, which is owned by Wal-Mart, announced it was limiting sales of jasmine, basmati and long grain white rice to four 20-lb. sacks per customer. Costco also reportedly instituted a similar local policy. According to a statement from Sam’s Club, the sales rationing was implemented in order to assure a steady supply of a basic product. In a place where enchiladas with beans and rice or burritos with beans and rice are daily vittles, the prospect of no rice was disturbing to some.

“I’ve never found myself in a situation where there is no rice,” said restaurant customer Arturo Duran.

Siria Rocha, however, is one person who is already looking at rice-free pantries. Rocha, marketing director for the West Texas Food Bank, which serves 100,000 needy people in 22 counties, said her organization has not received a new shipment of rice since last October.

And in an increasingly multi-cultural city, the rice price hikes have jolted owners and workers at East Asian and Middle Eastern restaurants. The responses of restaurateurs have been mixed, with some trying to hold the line on prices while others are jacking up meal prices by a dollar or two, according to press accounts. “I cannot afford to run out of rice. Oh, my God. That’s like a Mexican restaurant without tortillas,” said Francisco Wong, the owner of three Chinese-style diners in El Paso.

Sam’s Club restrictions on local rice sales quickly became international news, with the online edition of the Mexico City-based La Jornada daily posting a story on its home page. Many analysts discount an actual rice shortage, attributing the sudden price increase to speculation in futures markets, where basic grains currently fetch hefty profits, as well as the strategic decision of countries like the United States to subsidize and promote the production of biofuels at the expense of crops produced for animal and human consumption.

Sources: El Diario de El Paso, April 24 and 25, 2008. Articles by Gustavo Cabullo.
El Paso Times, April 25, 2008. Article by Doug Pullen and Maria Cortes Gonzalez.
La Jornada/DPA/Notimex, April 25, 2008.
KFOX News (El Paso), April 24, 2008.
Pagina 24/Notimex, April 22, 2008.

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