Top retailer Wal-Mart's Sam's Club unit said Wednesday it is limiting the amount of rice individual shoppers could buy at one time, as rice prices hit new records around the world.

Sam's Club said it had temporarily placed limits of four 20-pound (nine-kilogram) bags a person for jasmine, basmati, and other long-grain white rice types.

"We currently have plenty of rice for Sam's Club Members," the company said in a statement.

"However, like our competitors, we're just taking the precautionary step of limiting sales of the very large 20 pound bags" of imported white rice, it said.

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Sam's Club, a members-only bulk retailer chain owned by Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said smaller-sized bags of rice were not affected by the restrictions; nor did they extend to Wal-Mart stores.

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