It wasn’t that long ago when we would go to the grocery store to find empty shelves where scores of rolls of toilet paper would be for sale.
The same appears to be happening with rice from India after the country banned the export in a bid to control runaway prices.
RELATED: India rice export ban triggers panic buying in U.S.
Check out this scene of folks pushing and shoving at a warehouse store to get their hands on bags of rice
One Twitter user took to scolding shoppers for hoarding the staple
This as American rice farmers assure the buying public that there’s plenty of rice for everyone.
Of course, rice from different parts of the world doesn’t taste the same and if you’re used to getting Indian rice, substitutes may not do.
CNBC reports rice exports from India account for 40% of the world’s rice trade.
Relief does not appear to be in sight.
“There is very low probability of this export ban being lifted,” Samarendu Mohanty of the agricultural research company, the International Potato Center said to CNBC.
On top of that, the price of rice is at a decades-high with El Nino taking the brunt of the blame.
There’s also fear major rice exporters like Vietnam and Cambodia could impose their own export bans.
“It’s getting difficult to get rice and the prices have gone up as much as 25 percent,” restaurant owner Shaukat Maredia said to Chron. “In some cases even more than that.”
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