Sri Lankan government raided private warehouses outside capital Colombo to seize thousands of tonnes of sugar last week. The raids came a day after the country declaring a state of emergency due to food shortages.
Major General Senarath Niwunhella, who was named commissioner-general of essential services told AFP at least 13 000 tonnes of white and brown sugar were found in the raids.1
"Today we started with sugar and will expand this action to other commodities like wheat flour and rice too if importers do not release their stocks to the market," he said.
Niwunhella said the objective of the raids is to prevent hoarding, adding that seized stocks will be given to state-owned retail stores to sell for below the open market price.
AFP reported the country is experiencing sharp price rises for rice, onions, and potatoes, while long queues have formed outside stores because of shortages of milk powder, kerosene oil, and cooking gas.
Experts blame the food crisis on a shortage of foreign exchange to import and maintain buffer stocks.
The country’s foreign reserves plummeted to $2.8 billion by the end of July from $7.5 billion in November 2019.2
The Sri Lankan rupee has lost almost 20% against the US dollar since the economy contracted by a record 3.6% in 2020 due to COVID-19 measures.
References:
1 Sri Lanka raids sugar stocks as food shortages bite - AFP
2 Sri Lanka declares emergency over food, forex crisis - AA
Supermarket shortages may last 'FOREVER': Food and Drink Federation chief gives stark warning that the days of shoppers getting anything they want are 'over' - as farmer says crisis is 'killing small business'
- Warning came from Ian Wright, CEO of Food and Drink Federation, who said issues would 'only get worse'
- Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE, who runs popular Black Farmer food range, shared picture of empty shelves
- Said smaller business like his were suffering because producers had begun only fulfilling orders of big rivals
Empty shelves in the water aisle of the Tesco store at St Rollox in Glasgow in July. The boss of the Food and Drink Federation has said that the days when UK consumers could expect to pick up nearly whatever product they want whenever they want from supermarket shelves are over
https://www.producer.com/livestock/drought-forces-north-american-ranchers-to-sell-off-their-future/
Drought forces North American ranchers to sell off their future
Your Food Prices Are at Risk as the World Runs Short of Workers
Whether it’s fruit pickers, slaughterhouse workers, truckers or waiters, the world’s food ecosystem is buckling due to a shortage of staff.
Farms are set to kill and burn 100,000 pigs because of a post-Brexit butchers' shortage: Industry chiefs vent fury at Priti Patel for leaving key staff off list - but keeping ballet dancers
- Farmers may be forced to destroy nearly 100,000 pigs due to butcher shortage
- Figures say the animals face being killed due to post-Brexit shortage of workers
- Home Secretary Priti Patel hasn't included job on a list of shortage occupations
- The list would allow foreign butchers to enter the UK on a skilled worker visa
Farmers could be forced to destroy nearly 100,000 pigs because of a post-Brexit shortage of butchers to work in slaughterhouses, according to leading figures (stock image)
No milk or water: Shoppers face shortages at UK grocery stores ..
http://www.zetatalk.com/newsletr/issue072.htm
http://www.zetatalk.com/newsletr/issue120.htm
http://www.zetatalk.com/theword/tword202.htm
http://www.zetatalk.com/index/zeta418.htm
KM
https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-10-08-storable-food-supplier-augas...
Major storable food supplier Augason Farms ceases operations for 90 days, citing collapsing supply chain
(Natural News) Storable food mega-supplier Augason Farms has ceased operations for 90 days, citing, “global raw-material shortages” and “substantial delays” in procurement and production.
“Regrettably, BCG [the parent company owner of Augason Farms] cannot fulfill your orders on time; therefore, this letter communicates our decision to suspend business for the next 90 days, effective immediately,” says an October 7th, 2021 letter issued by Mark Augason, President of Augason Farms, to Augason Farms distributors and retailers (see letter below).
“During these 90 days, we will secure and stockpile raw materials and take measures to accelerate our round-the-clock production output,” the letter continues. “We are confident that this reset period will help us better serve you with on-time, complete shipments in the future,” the letter adds.
Augason Farms has been a large-scale retailer on Amazon.com, Walmart and many other retail outlets, typically offering non-organic dried fruits, vegetables and meal mixes to the preparedness and survival community.
The full letter is shown here:
In addition to this letter to its distributors and retailers, the Augason Farms website has announced it is no longer processing online orders from customers. “Due to an extremely high order volume through all sales channels we are currently not able to receive any orders through our web site,” said an on-site message on Oct. 8th.
“We expect to turn this site back on just as soon as possible.”
For the record, we were disturbed to learn about this development. It is yet further evidence of the accelerating collapse of food supply lines. As we have repeatedly warned, the world is about to be plunged into a “Dark Winter” of extreme food scarcity, power grid / energy scarcity and accelerating spike protein fatalities occurring among the vaccinated.
The shuttering of Augason Farms for 90 days is only going to worsen the food scarcity at retail, causing people to scramble even more aggressively to try to locate dwindling food supplies.
In my opinion, the brain dead Democrats only seek to throw more stimulus money at this problem, creating yet more fake fiat currency chasing an ever-shrinking supply of goods. And since you can’t eat stimulus money, all the stimulus in the world is pointless if the supply lines are collapsing. The problem in today’s economy isn’t a lack of stimulus money, it’s a lack of labor due to all the COVID lockdowns (which are completely nonsensical and based on irrational junk science). This lack of labor is getting translated into food supply chain disruptions and transportation / logistics nightmares that mean fewer goods are available to end customers.
If this continues, the mass starvation and power grid failures will probably kill far more people than COVID ever could.
Our own storable foods operations at HealthRangerStore.com have been heavily impacted by the collapsing food supply chain. As we reported weeks ago, commercial food purchase contracts that we traditionally signed with food providers for 12 months of food deliveries have all but vanished. Commercial food suppliers told us in July that they, “could not guarantee any food deliveries beyond 90 days out.” Suppliers that used to offer credit terms are now demanding payment up front, or full payment upon delivery. And many commercial food orders are resulting in only partial deliveries, typically representing half of what was originally ordered.
The last time we put storable food buckets into our online inventory, they sold out in 90 minutes. We have remained out of stock ever since. (Our current production run will put items back into inventory on Nov. 11th, assuming the power grid stays up.)
There is no question whatsoever that the food supply chain in North America is rapidly collapsing. This is because elections have consequences, and the Democrats would seemingly rather see America locked down than working in productive jobs. If you pay people to stay home and not work, people will stay home and not work. Before long, the shelves are empty. It’s a page ripped right out of communist-style centrally-planned economies… which history has proven are horribly inefficient and lead to exactly the kind of supply chain failures we are witnessing at this very moment.
Those who remain in denial about this reality won’t be able to deny it for much longer, as the retail shelves are starting to run dry as well. Every nation, they say, is but nine meals away from a revolution. Those nine missed meals are arriving this winter, it seems.
We wish Augason Farms the best in resuming operations in 2022, should supply lines improve. However, we are extremely concerned that the picture is going to be far worse 90 days out. And those who fail to stockpile food in the next 30-60 days may find themselves literally starving to death in January / February (or begging FEMA for emergency food handouts).
Oct 10, 2021
Ovidiu Pricopi
May 26, 2022
Derrick Johnson
India's rice export ban triggers panic buying at US supermarkets - sparking costs of 20-pound bag to soar from $16 to almost $50
India's rice export ban has triggered panic buying at US supermarkets, causing the price of a 20-pound bag to surge from $16 to almost $50 in some stores.
The south Asian country, which accounts for 40 percent of world rice exports, ordered a halt to its largest rice export category, non-basmati rice, on Thursday to calm domestic prices, sparking fears of global shortages.
Videos and reports shared on social media over the weekend show Indian-Americans standing in long lines or panic-buying rice in Texas, Michigan, New Jersey Alabama, Ohio, Illinois and California.
Some stores have hiked the price of a 20-pound bag to $46.99 and have started money-making schemes to capitalize on the panic, according to Business Line.
'A few desi grocery shops came up with innovative ideas to force customers to spend a minimum of $35-$50 on other items to purchase a single rice bag, which is outrageous,' a shopper told the outlet.
Rice prices in the US have shot up by around 11 percent on average, according to PBS Frontline.
One store in Mason, Ohio, is rationing the grain to one 20-pound bag per head, costing $24, PBS reported.
Non-basmati rice is the is the most common rice used in traditional American recipes, as well as in Asian and Mexican cuisine.
The move demonstrates the sensitivity of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to food inflation ahead of a general election nearly next year.
The Indian government said the ban would be effective from July 20, and only vessels currently loading would be allowed to export.
Parboiled rice, which represented 7.4 million tons of exports in 2022, is not included in the ban, the government specified.
Rice is a staple for more than 3 billion people, and nearly 90 percent of the water-intensive crop is produced in Asia, where the El Nino weather pattern usually brings lower rainfall.
But heavy rain in the north of India over the last few weeks has damaged newly-planted crops in Punjab and Haryana states.
Paddy fields have been submerged for over a week, destroying seedlings, and forcing farmers to wait before they can replant the rice seeds.
In other major rice-growing states, farmers have prepared paddy nurseries but have been unable to transplant the seedlings due to inadequate rainfall.
The area under rice cultivation had been expected to increase after New Delhi raised the rice purchase price, but farmers so far have planted rice paddy on an area 6 percent smaller than in 2022.
'In order to ensure adequate availability of non-basmati white rice in the Indian market and to allay the rise in prices in the domestic market, the government of India has amended the export policy,' the food ministry said in a statement that cited a 11.5 percent increase in retail prices over 12 months.
His administration has extended a ban on wheat exports after curbing rice shipments in September 2022. It also capped sugar exports this year as cane yields dropped.
This week, prices of rice exported from Vietnam, the world's third-largest exporter after India and Thailand, soared to their highest in more than a decade on growing supply concerns due to El Nino.
Vietnam's 5 percent broken rice was offered at $515-$525 per metric ton - its highest since 2011. India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety hovered near a five-year peak at $421-$428 per metric ton.
Buyers may move to Thailand and Vietnam, but their 5 percent broken rice could cost $600 per metric ton, said one European trader.
China and the Philippines, who generally buy Vietnamese and Thai rice, will be forced to pay substantially higher prices, another European dealer said.
While Thailand and Vietnam don't have enough inventories to plug the shortfall, African buyers would be most affected by India's decision, Rao said, adding that many countries will urge New Delhi to resume shipments.
Other top buyers of Indian rice include Benin, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Togo, Guinea, Bangladesh and Nepal.
'India would disrupt the global rice market with far greater velocity than Ukraine did in the wheat market with Russia's invasion,' B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association told Reuters.
Last week Russia halted a breakthrough wartime deal that allowed grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Black Sea Grain Initiative would be suspended until demands to get Russian food and fertilizer to the world are met. An attack Monday on a bridge connecting the Crimean Peninsula to Russia was not a factor in the decision, he said.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12331565/Indias-rice-expor...
Jul 25, 2023