Rice crisis poses no threat to paella

PALMA
THE global rice crisis is not expected to place our favourite Sunday rice dishes under threat.
Sources for the association of Balearic supermarkets said their is absolutely no cause for consumer concern and that the region's rice stocks will not be hit as rice prices reached new records in Asia and the United States this week. Josep Mallol, technical secretary of the association is adamant that there will be no cases of rationing, like in the United States, by the major supplies and that, in the short term, no increase in the cost of rice is expected.

He said the core of the problem is with production in Asia, not Europe, and stressed that Spain and the Balearics has more than adequate rice reserves for the time being.

However, in the long term, any price hikes will depend very much on the main producers.
But, he did stress that supermarket chains will do their best to keep prices as low as possible and ruled out any need for bulk buying by consumers.