Rice in short supply at Costco, Sam’s Club

The global run on rice has hit U.S. shores but appears limited to big-box warehouse stores. Customers concerned about rising rice prices have been cleaning out the shelves at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Sam’s Club and Costco Wholesale Corp. stores.

Sam’s Club said today that customers will no longer be allowed to purchase more than four bags of jasmine, basmati and long-grain white rice per visit. The policy involves only bags of 20 pounds or larger and does not affect consumer packages.

The retailer said the policy was “effective immediately” across all of its U.S. stores.. It blamed the new limits on “supply and demand trends” and said it is working with suppliers “to ensure we are in stock, and we are asking for our members’ cooperation and patience.”

Earlier this week, Costco said it has seen sales spikes for flour, rice and some cooking oils and was considering limiting sales in stores where it had limited supplies. The chain said it is considering limiting the number of pallets a customer could purchase rather than stopping sales altogether.

Internationally, shortages of basic food commodities – including rice, wheat and some oils – has prompted protests and riots in recent months. In the United States, brewers have complained of shortages of certain types of hops used to make high-end beers and bakers have scrambled to find some specialty flours. With the exception of rising prices, the nation has escaped the problems seen in other countries.

The limits on bulk rice purchases by a major retailer such as Sam’s Club are the first sign of any spillover in the United States.

The price of many foods, including beer, bread, coffee, pizza and rice have risen rapidly in recent months as the nation contends with its worst bout of food inflation since the 1990s. The cost of groceries is rising at an annual rate of about 5% this year. Rice jumped by almost 10% last month, according to government data.

“When you see a staple for your business or your family double in price over the last year, you want to minimize future price increases,” said Tim Johnson, president-CEO of the California Rice Commission, which represents growers and millers of rice in the state.

Small businesses, including many restaurants, rely heavily on big warehouse chains for their supplies.

Scooping up rice sacks might be a rational economic move for small businesses that want to stock up before prices rise even higher, but it’s not a response to the type of shortage that would prevent Americans from obtaining the grain, the analyst said.

“We don’t have a rice shortage here in California or the United States,” Johnson said.

The Department of Agriculture projects U.S. rice supplies unchanged from a year ago and at about the average for the last seven years.

Though the U.S. is one of the world’s top rice growers, Americans doesn’t consume much of the grain. Between 40% and 50% of what the U.S. grows annually is exported.

jerry.hirsch@latimes.com