All,
I'll play the agent provocateur for a moment here...
I've read several posts tonight of people being unable to find
different types of food stuffs in their local groceries (major chains)
such as ginger and peanut oil. IMHO, this seems to be a growing trend
across the US recently.
Here in NYC, Costco has recently been "rationing" bags of rice to
its customers and bananas seem to be in short supply due to their
rising price and, according to a couple of local deli owners, their
inability to obtain them in quantity from their suppliers, The guy,
who runs the deli across the street, said that he can only buy "one
box of bananas a month" and can't really make a profit off them
because he has to price them too high.
Also, the price of those great NYC "staples", bagels and pizza, keep
going up every month due to increases in the price of wheat flour. A
loaf of decent corporate produced multigrain bread is creeping up to
almost US$4 a loaf, but a local mom and pop bakery can provide a
superior bakery loaf for about US$2.50. As an economist, I can't help
but wonder where economy of scale comes into play.
Strangely, though, corn products (isn't corn what is being turned
into biofuels?) seem to be relatively cheap these days here, A stack
of tortillas from the local commercial tortillarias, costs about
US$0.99 and I can still buy three ears of corn/maize for about 40
cents a ear out of season, Why aren't all of the Southern Mexican
corn/maize farmers that are here illegally, running back to their
farms to make their make a profit off of their land and support their
families? The answer is NAFTA. US corporate agricultural interests
are buying up Mexican lands on the cheap and raising corn/maize on
corporate farms.
What's going on? Costco and Wamart can't buy enough rice to meet
their demand, but all of the local asian (not just Chinese) groceries
seem to have plenty.
I smell a rat...Corporate Greed.

The Herd wrote:

> In my
> area, we, go to the local day old bakery outlet for bread and other
> related items. There, you can by three loaves of wonder bread at a
> lower price than a regular store charges for one loaf.

In Minneapolis, Aldi charges less for bread than the bakery outlet
charges for day old.

--
Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
Journal http://dsgood.livejournal.com
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On Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:02:20 -0500, Gregor in NYC wrote:


> its customers and bananas seem to be in short supply due to their
> rising price and, according to a couple of local deli owners, their
> inability to obtain them in quantity from their suppliers...

there's a banana blight

nb

On Sun, 08 Jun 2008 10:23:17 -0400, The Herd >
wrote:

>On Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:02:20 -0500, Gregor in NYC <> wrote:
>
>>All,
>> I'll play the agent provocateur for a moment here...
>>I've read several posts tonight of people being unable to find
>>different types of food stuffs in their local groceries (major chains)
>>such as ginger and peanut oil. IMHO, this seems to be a growing trend
>
>There is no shortage of American grown long grain rice or wheat. In my
>area, we, go to the local day old bakery outlet for bread and other
>related items. There, you can by three loaves of wonder bread at a
>lower price than a regular store charges for one loaf. The price for
>delivered pizza in my area has risen because of fuel cost but come and
>get it pizza is about the same price. There are no Asian markets
>around here so I can't say about Peanut oil etc. The majority of the
>veggies in the stores are locally grown, so the prices have only seen
>a slow increase. I believe that the majority of what is reported on
>"Food Shortages", is a commodities market self driven panic to
>increase cost and therefore profit and commissions and doesn't reflect
>reality.

if activities on the futures market affect supermarket prices (and i
believe they do), it damn well does reflect 'reality.'

your pal,
blake

In article >,
Gregor in NYC <> wrote:

> All,
> I'll play the agent provocateur for a moment here...

> Here in NYC, Costco has recently been "rationing" bags of rice to
> its customers and bananas

> What's going on? Costco and Wamart can't buy enough rice to meet
> their demand, but all of the local asian (not just Chinese) groceries
> seem to have plenty.
> I smell a rat...Corporate Greed.

I smell a rumor. There is a problem with bananas (thank you,
monoculture). Rice is not really a problem. Costco rationed rice
because it appeared that some people were thinking of stockpiling it.
Costco, around here, always had plenty of rice.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA