We can't just blame the Chinese for everything. However as their economy heats up like crazy the effect is unavoidably felt worldwide.

Recently, rice climbed to the front of global consciousness as major rice-producing places including India, Vietnam, Brazil and Egypt announced that they would limit rice exports in order to ensure a sufficient supply for their own people. (How can you blame them)? Over the past few months (peaking in the third week of April 2008) the price had tripled to around US$1,000 per ton. Yikes!

The lower supply and jump in price for imported rice has also caused concern in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines, (all of which are major rice importers). This has not been limited to Asia - increasing rice prices have led to some North American stores limiting rice purchases as shipments of rice from Asia to North America have dropped.

Here is where to find the latest charts:

click ------> RICE PRICE <

With the value of rice to the planet increasingly visible, (it is the most important crop in Asia and it is the second most grown grain in the world after corn). Major rice exporters are considering new ways to leverage their critical role in global food production.

The prime minister of Thailand floated the idea of creating a CARTEL of rice-producing countries that could operate similarly to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),(double yikes)! The proposed cartel would include Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

"We don't aspire to be like OPEC, but we hope to be just a group of five to help each other in trading rice on the world market," Bangkok-based newspaper The Nation quoted Samak as saying.

Successful organization of a Southeast Asian rice cartel, which is tentatively being called the Organization of Rice Exporting Countries (OREC), would have a major impact on the global rice market. Thailand is the planet's number one exporter of rice, sending around 10 million tons to international markets yearly. Vietnam - the world's second-largest rice exporter - exports roughly half that amount.

According to the Chinese government, the country's rice reserves are enough to last half a year at current consumption levels, yet fears of hoarding and further price rises in the short term are growing. Rice prices in south China have increased 10 percent in recent weeks despite frequent releases from China's state reserves to keep prices low.

Rice production is also facing a serious problem in the form of diminishing global water supplies. Conventional rice production requires large amounts of water - a fact not lost on increasingly thirsty China, which last year announced that it aims to expand its use of aerobic rice, a strain of rice that like wheat is capable of growing on dry soil. China hopes to increase its aerobic rice acreage to 30 percent of national rice acreage from its current level of one percent.

Should OREC's influence on global rice prices eventually parallel OPEC's influence on global oil prices, it is likely that the cartel will need to cultivate a friendly relationship with China, which controls the headwaters of the region's most important rivers including the Mekong and Salween rivers.