Rice shortage looming

By MADELEINE AREK
CONSUMERS of rice in Papua New Guinea should brace themselves for the impact of a severe shortage of their favourite grain.
This is because of a severe drought in Australia – the major source of our rice.
A leading market player in the product Trukai Industries, which imports much of its rice from Australia, said yesterday it was doing everything it could to protect customers from any shock, including shortages or price rises.
It is understood prices of rice had risen over the weekend Trukai managing director Phil Franklin said although their supplies of medium grain rice from Australia were affected, it did not have a bearing on the company’s raw rice imports as they were buying from other sources.
“Trukai has taken vigorous steps to counter the short-age of medium grain rice from drought-affected Australian farmers by
sourcing excellent quality rice from other overseas sources,” Mr Franklin said.
“Although the world market for rice is tight, Trukai is able to buy the kind of rice Papua New Guineans are used to from
various countries at com-petitive prices,” he said.
“Everything is being done to protect our PNG customers from any shocks, including short-ages or price rises.”