certain rice exports has sparked some panic buying in various countries, with videos on social media showing bags of the staple food flying off the shelves and long lines outside grocery stores.From the US to Canada and Australia, reports of overseas Indians stocking up are going viral. Some shops have imposed buying limits, while others hiked prices to cash in on the frenzy. Indian restaurants worry about a shortage.
"Over the past few days, people have started buying maybe twice as much rice as usual. So we had to restrict," said Shishir Shaima, a manager of MGM Spices, an Indian grocery store in Surry Hills in Australia. The store is now allowing customers to buy only one 5-kilogram bag of rice each. “Some people get mad when we won’t let them buy more than one bag, but we won’t let them,” Shaima said.