Rice Gains as Governments Seek to Avoid Food-Price Inflation – Bloomberg

Rice, the staple food for half the world, rallied from a four-day losing streak as governments boosted stockpiles to curb prices that sparked protests across North Africa and the Middle East.

The grain represents almost 50 percent of food costs of the poorest across the developing world and 20 percent of total household spending, according to the International Rice Research Institute, based in Los Banos, the Philippines. In the U.S., 6 percent of incomes are spent on groceries, data from Euromonitor International show.