Sam's Club, the wholesale membership club owned by Wal-Mart, announced Wednesday that it is limiting sales of Jasmine, Basmati and long grain white rice
"due to recent supply and demand trends."
Sam's Club, the second largest U.S. wholesale club, joins Costco Wholesale Corp, the country's largest club, in limiting rice sales at a time when retailers in many parts of the world are running short.
A Reuters story says:
Sam's Club said is not limiting sales of flour or cooking
oil at this time. Costco said some of its stores have put
limits on sales of items such as rice and flour, but it was
trying to modify those restrictions to meet customer demand.
Costco Chief Executive James Sinegal told Reuters that he
believed the recent surge in demand was being driven by media
reports about rising global demand and shortages of basic food
items in some countries.
At the same time, rice futures hit new highs on the Chicago Board of Trade today.
In some parts of the world, rice prices have doubled in a year.
