Some Asian-Americans Stockpiling Rice Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Asian-American shoppers are stockpiling rice amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while other shoppers are hoarding and stockpiling on tissues and toilet paper.

“It feels like people were preparing for an apocalypse,” said Dustin Her, an employee at Hmong Town Market in Milwaukee. “They keep coming and buying all the rice. We’re only left with the unpopular brand.”

When Her saw friends and family posting videos on Facebook about the rice shortage in Asian grocery stores, he thought they were joking and pranking their friends on social media. When he came to work and saw a customer bought 13 bags of 50-pound rice, he realized the Facebook posts were no joke.

“People were panicking and stockpiling to prepare for quarantine,” Her said. “Somewhere in someone’s garage, it’s probably stacked with 50-pound rice bags.”

As the popular rice brands were emptied from the pallet, the price of every brand was raised to be the same amount.

“A guy drove from Sheboygan to buy $300 worth of rice from us,” said Kou Yang, an employee at Phongsavan Asian Market in Milwaukee. “The guy said it’s cheaper here.”

While rice was the main seller at the store, nonperishable food such as Ramen noodles and chips were emptied from the shelf.

Yang said that people should not be panicking because the store is restocking. He doesn’t want one customer to hoard all the product.

Lisa Moua, a student at UWM, said that her mother bought four bags of rice home which was significantly more than usual.

“She bought them because she saw everyone else buying rice,” Moua said. “I think it is only the older Hmong people who are stockpiling on rice.”

During the Vietnam War, Hmong people who were helping the U.S. with the war effort migrated from their home into Long Cheng which was a headquarter set up by the CIA and General Vang Pao.

They looked up to the sky for rice to be dropped from the U.S. aircraft for ration. Rice was staple, but rice was scarce during time of war.

Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, it is no surprise that the first thing Hmong elders stockpiled to prepare for quarantine is rice.

Countries like Vietnam, where rice is a staple, plan to stockpile 190,000 tons of rice for food reserve by June to make sure the country has enough food during the novel corona virus outbreak.

Thailand, which is a top export of rice, warned that rice prices is likely to increase after domestic price rose to 20%-30% due to the drought and the coronavirus pandemic.

Rice is not a main staple in the U.S., but community in the U.S. where rice is the main staple will be impacted if the price keep increasing.