(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-11 14:43

By Lin Rong

HONG KONG  -- Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo convened a food summit with top officials and farm experts on Friday, looking for ways to prevent the emerging rice crisis from severely affecting the world's biggest importer of rice.

This came as the latest effort by the Philippine government to ensure food supplies and control soaring rice prices, which is also seen a major task in other Asian countries, where rice is consumed daily by every household.

CRISIS BEYOND PHILIPPINES

Part of a surge in global food price, international rice prices have increased by about 20 percent in the past three months and at least doubled since 2004, said a recent statement by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. There are concerns prices could rise further in coming months.

Experts blame rising fuel and fertilizer expenses, a shift of investment money into commodities as well as crops curtailed by disaster, pests and climate change.

Some countries like the United States were also blamed for diverting farm produce to produce biofuels, which had led to soaring global food prices.

About 20 percent of last year's 13 billion bushel corn crop was consumed by ethanol production. That percentage is expected to increase to 30 percent for the next crop year ending Aug. 31, 2009,Terry Francl, a senior economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, was quoted by the Associated Press on Thursday.

The sharp rise of food prices is hitting consumer pocketbooks and raising fears of a rice supply shortage around Asia, spurring the governments to dig deeper to stabilize domestic markets.

Things are so tight in the Philippines that Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has asked people not to throw away leftover rice and urged fast-food restaurants, which normally give customers a cup of rice with meals, to offer a half-cup option to cut waste.

Last week, President Arroyo arranged the purchase of up to 1.5 million tons from Vietnam, at an average price of 708.04 US dollars per ton, 49 percent above the price it had paid in January.

She also has ordered a crackdown on price manipulation, hoarding and profiteering on subsidized rice.

The Philippines is the most pertinent example of the rice effect, but the risk could be repeated in other parts of Asia. Experts have warned that the mounting food prices are hurting the region's many poor, leading to raising headline inflation and significant decline in the real incomes of the poor.

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