IndiaRetailBiz

Clouds of food shortages have begun looming large even on the skies of the land of plenty. Yes, we are talking about the United States of America, where the country’s top two bulk retailers, namely, Costco and Wal-Mart, in the face of surging demand, have begun imposing restrictions on bulk sales of basic food articles like rice and flour.

Sam’s Club, the cash & carry division of the world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart, has rationed several long grain varieties of white rice, including, Basmati and Jasmine. Likewise some of the stores of Costco, the largest warehouse (bulk) retailer in the U.S., have begun putting restrictions on sales of items like rice and flour.

While, Sam’s Club, the second largest warehouse club operator in the U.S., has from Wednesday restricted sales of rice to four bags (9 kg each) per customer per visit, Costco has said that it is looking at lowering restrictions imposed by some of its stores on sales of rice and flour.

While media reports suggesting food shortages in several countries across the world are said to be fueling the demand of basic food items, bans on exports, for example, of long grain varieties of rice like Basmati by countries like India, have also contributed to the scare.

Warehouse clubs (or Cash & Carry stores) cater to the requirements of registered individual bulk customers and institutional buyers like restaurants, hostels, and small traders. In India Metro C&C and Shoprite are active retailers in this space, while other major global retailers like Wal-Mart in JV with Bhartiand Carrefour are getting ready to unveil their operations in the next six to 12 month. Among Indian retailers, Indiabulls and Videocon have also announced their plans to launch C&C operations this year.