Global rice prices hit 15yr high as India cuts supply

The partial ban in India on rice exports has cut global supply significantly and sent rice prices at the international market to a 15-year nominal high, according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO.

While global food prices eased in August, rice rose 9.8 per cent compared to the previous month, “reflecting trade disruptions in the aftermath of a ban on Indica white rice exports by India”, the FAO said in its report released Friday.

The report said that uncertainty over India’s ban duration and concerns that export restrictions would be extended to other rice types caused supply-chain actors to hold on to stocks, renegotiate contracts or stop making price offers.

This, against a backdrop of seasonally tight availability ahead of new-crop harvests, is “limiting most trade to small volumes or to previously concluded sales,” the FAO said.

India is the world’s largest rice exporter, accounting for over 40 per cent of the world’s rice exports. The South-Asian country announced in July a ban on exports of its non-basmati white rice, which accounts for around a quarter of its total.

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The drop in the overall index reflected declines for dairy products, vegetable oils, meat and cereals, despite a jump in FAO’s rice benchmark to a 15-year high following Indian export restrictions, the agency said.

FAO’s cereal index edged down 0.7 per cent from July as wheat prices fell in the face of northern hemisphere harvests, while maize (corn) fell for a seventh straight month to a near three-year low, pressured by a record Brazilian crop and the approaching U.S. harvest.

FAO’s sugar index rose 1.3 per cent month-on-month in August, putting it 34 per cent above the year-earlier level, supported by concerns about the impact of the El Nino weather pattern on global production.

Vegetable oil prices were down 3.1 per cent in August, while dairy prices slipped 4 per cent, an eighth monthly drop reflecting ample supply in Oceania and slower Chinese imports.