Photo: Chris BarberA Reuters article notes that the price of rat meat in Cambodia has quadrupled, even as the overall inflation rate is “only” 37 percent.
Consumers are substituting away from higher-priced meats (beef is still four times as expensive as rat) toward rat, increasing the demand for rat meat.
If the relative price of rat has risen, how can this be? Rat meat is almost surely an inferior good, and people switch to cheaper alternatives as inflation accelerates and erodes their real incomes.
Cambodian consumers are fortunate that the price of rat meat hasn’t risen even more. Flooding in the Mekong Delta is forcing rats to higher ground and making them easier to catch; this creates an increased supply. Not surprisingly, the rise in price has raised the return to rat catching — so more kids are entering the labor market for rat catchers and are offering rat meat to the market.
Think about this the next time you see a rat scurrying across the streets of a large city; in Cambodia he might be dinner!
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It seems that rat meat is increasing because there are lots of demands for it, meaning that people that can get hold of the rats have huge scarcity power. In this case, rats are scarce and the demand for them is getting higher and higher since people’s incomes and the high inflation have forced them to look for cheaper alternatives as a source of food. But if people continue eating rats and the demands continue to rise, then the price would go so high, that people might end up paying a little more for another type of better meat and so the rats’ prices would fall once again and the people who used to catch rats would have to start doing something else.
Rats are very low-maintnance/simple creatures. They simply eat, reproduce and give homeowners a hell of a headache. Which is why I find this growing demand in Cambodia for rat meat a great opportunity for Entrepreneurs to improvise “rat farms” in order to take advantage of the current situation. Even though the demand for rat meat may decline after a while, therefore dropping the price, we can be sure that more people will have the ability to access and afford these essential goods in such a poor country.
In previous times of scarcity, Cambodians have turned towards more inferior types of meat such as a certain type of deep fried spiders.
While insects are a common kind enough of food in Asia (and can be quite tasty if prepared properly) deep fried spiders apparently made it onto dinner plates the first time during the Khmer Rouge regime, when large parts of the population were starving. Do a Flickr search for “deep fried spider” if you wanna see what they look like.
One cant help but think that the economics of rat breeding are compelling. With inputs of just some trash, an abadoned building and a piper, your products will multiply. Acquiring a garbage disposal company may result in significant synergies.
Karen, an animal-rescue group in your area may well be able to help you find pet rats in need of a home. You can use petfinder.com to search for available animals near you and get in touch with the appropriate group.
I do foster care for rats on behalf of Raleigh Rodent Rescue, and I just placed a pair of rats with a family last Friday.