SHORTAGE OF RICE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25207, 11 June 1947, Page 4

SHORTAGE OF RICE

HARVEST NOT AVAILABLE FOR N.Z. PUBLIC PURCHASE BY BRITAIN FOR STARVING COUNTRIES *• The Press ” Special Service AUCKLAND, June 10. Neither the New Zealand nor the Australian public will be able to obtain rice from the present harvest, according to a statement issued by the Rice Association of Australia. After hospitals, Asiatics, and other priority consumers have been supplied, the entire surplus is being purchased by the United Kingdom for the starving countries of the Empire which use rice as a staple diet. The association estimates that the world’s supply of rice for export stands to-day at only 40 per cent, of normal, and that it will be seven years before production catches up with the demand. However, it is hoped, by rearrangement of world allocations, that some rice will be available to the NewZealand public from the next season’s harvest. The price of hew season’s Australian rice, which is being supplied to hospitals, Asiatic, and other priority users in New Zealand, is now to be brought into line with the approximate sterling price of £32 a ton, f.o.b. (£39 Australian). This price has been permitted by the Australian Prices Commissioner after a rise in the cost of production. It will relieve the loss that has been borne by the Australian industry during the war years, when the price stood at £24 to £27 Australian.