Philippines: Spiralling rice prices bring hunger to millions

Over the past three months, international rice prices have tripled, according to the International Herald Tribune. The price of medium-grade Thai 15 percent broken rice soared from $360 a ton at the end of 2007 to $735 a ton by late March. By the end of May, the price for Thai 100 percent grade B white rice, which serves as a regional benchmark, hit $1,038 a ton. It now hovers around the $1,000 mark.

The increases are having a devastating impact on the urban and rural poor. Some 68 million Filipinos live on less than $2 a day, according to the National Statistics Office 2006 survey. Rice purchases make up 12 to 20 percent of their total food expenditures.

The Social Weather Station, a Philippines social research institution, estimates that over 2.8 million families, or more than 10 million people, already experience involuntary hungerhaving nothing to eat on at least one day over the past three months.