Global rice prices reached their highest level in 15 years in August, rising by 9.8% month-on-month after India imposed export restrictions, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Friday.
The price of rice, the world’s most consumed cereal alongside wheat, has been directly affected by India’s July 21 decision to ban the export of non-basmati white rice, which amount to around a quarter of its usual rice exports.
The aim is to preserve enough supply for its inhabitants and to limit price rises, as tariffs rose before the summer. In August, the FAO rice price index was up 31% year-on-year.
India accounts for 40% of world rice trade, ahead of Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan. The country sells quantities of broken rice to Africa (Senegal, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire or Benin), as well as to Asia (Pakistan, Philippines) and the Middle East (Turkey, Syria).
Waiting for the new harvests, faced with "uncertainties over the duration of the ban" decided by India and "fears that export restrictions will be extended to other types of rice", the world rice market has become tense, the FAO points out. Many states and market players have chosen to "hold stocks", “renegotiate contracts” or “stop making price offers”, the UN agency explained in a statement.
Yet the world’s rice reserves are plentiful: according to the FAO, “world rice stocks at the end of the 2023-2024 marketing years are still forecast to reach their highest level ever recorded”, with an estimated stock of 198 million tonnes. This corresponds to around 38% of forecast rice consumption over the same period.
