Global rice market at risk in hostile weather

Global rice market at risk in hostile weather

Global rice market at risk in hostile weather

Asia's top rice producing countries, including India, fear a decline in rice production this year due to adverse weather conditions; This poses the risk of further fueling food inflation. Supply disruptions due to the pandemic and the recent Russia-Ukraine war had already driven up other grain prices. It has pushed food inflation to near-record highs. But the rice market remained fairly stable due to bumper yields in the last two years and huge stockpiles by exporters. This time, if the production decreases, there will be a crisis with rice in the international market. 90 percent of the total rice produced in the world comes from Asian countries. But businessmen and analysts think that the situation may change due to hostile weather in these countries.

National Australia Bank agricultural economist Finn Ziebel said the rise in rice prices was directly linked to the decline in production in major exporting countries. In many countries in the developing world, it has become difficult to keep food prices affordable. If the price of rice goes up, it will make the situation more difficult.

In the areas of India where paddy is abundant, there has been less rain this time. China is on fire. Floods in Bangladesh and deteriorating rice quality in Vietnam will reduce production overall in these five largest rice-producing countries in the world. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) economist Shirley Mustafa said, "Even though overall food prices reached record levels at the beginning of this year, rice is still readily available. We are now looking at the weather in some of the major rice producing countries including India, China. If the winter does not improve in the next few weeks, production may decrease.

Production sure to drop: Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, among the country's major rice-producing states, have received 45 percent less rainfall than normal so far this year, the India Meteorological Office said. BV Krishna Rao, president of Rice Exporters Association of India, believes that this year's rice production may decrease by 13 percent.

 If his guess is correct, India will produce 1 crore tonnes less rice this year than expected, or 8 percent less than last year. Apart from this, due to the cultivation of pulses and oilseeds, the area under paddy cultivation has also decreased this time, said BV Rao. In India, 85 percent of the country's total rice production comes from hot season crops. India produced a record 129.66 million tonnes of rice in a crop year till last June.