Lidl stores ration sales of rice

Poor harvests have helped fuel a global shortage of rice

Supermarket chain Lidl has rationed rice sales in all its UK stores amid worldwide shortages of the food.

The company said it had restricted purchases to "family volumes" - a maximum of 20kg - to stop traders buying up the product in bulk.

Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's confirmed they were not rationing rice.

A rice shortage after a number of rice-producing nations limited exports to secure domestic supplies has pushed up the global price of the crop.

Lidl - which has more than 380 British stores - is limiting customers to two 10kg bags where these are sold, or five 1kg packs elsewhere.

The firm said it wanted to ensure that families could buy rice without any restrictions.

'No problems'

Tesco said it had limited customers to two packs of rice at its Hamilton branch in Leicester for two weeks, but that there were no longer restrictions at any of its stores.

A spokesman said: "We don't have any problem with supply."

The Financial Times reported that Morrison's store at Freemans Park, also in Leicester, was restricting rice to six bags per customer but the company told the newspaper that it was not limiting sales.

Portuguese newspaper Publico reported this week that Lidl had lifted its limit of 10kg of rice per customer in the country.

The global rice shortage has been caused by poor harvests, increased demand in growing economies, and hoarding in the expectation of further price rises.

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