They're Running Out of Rice!

Food-buying panic hits Canadian stores

With food riots spreading from Haiti to Thailand and retail giants such as Wal-Mart implementing rice rationing in the United States because of shrinking supplies, analysts say Canadians will soon be paying a lot more at the grocery store.

Already, panic buying has hit some Canadian stores.

Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers Association of Canada said he was getting calls in British Columbia that store shelves were being emptied of rice by panicked buyers. "I was in one of the national chains and there was one packet of rice left on the shelf."

"It's a human trait to hoard, but there is only so much food to hoard," he said. "The world crisis is obviously going to have a ripple effect into Canada."