The world’s biggest rice exporter- India has decided to ban the export of broken rice and increase the overall export tax on the non-basmati varieties as a protectionist move for the country. Consequently, this has led to a gradual increase in global rice prices.
Last month, the Food and Agriculture Organization has witnessed an increase of 10% increase in global rice prices. For more than a decade the prices of foodgrains have stagnated with a certain level of stability but in this year widespread low production of foodgrains worldwide coinciding with the denial of export by India due to its protectionist reasons has led to a gradual increase in the prices of rice.
Rice is the staple food for most Asian and African countries. About 605 of this demand is met by imports from Asian and African countries. Uneven monsoons have badly hit the rice planting in India and caused a restriction on exports from September. The overall consumption of rice has increased in Bangladesh and Phillippines yet the floods in Pakistan and uneven climatic conditions have affected the rice output in most exporting countries.
With the ever-increasing consumption of rice and the existing production unable to meet the present demands, experts worldwide have forecasted that the global demand will outstrip production in 2022-23.
India has almost banned the export of broken rice and imposed a 20% import duty on non-basmati varieties. Global rice prices have jumped more than 10% in the last month. Across the world, governments have been trying hard to control food inflation which was caused as a side effect of disruption in global supply chains. The Russia-Ukraine war also withdrew another tonne of food grains from the market.
Although countries like Vietnam and Thailand are also rice exporters they have insufficient inventories coupled with India’s ban on exports have reduced the rice from the world’s food basket. Different assessments reveal that global rice production has hit an all-time low in the past three years. India contributed about 40% of the global rice trade and with the increasing demand from importers, it is going to be difficult.
Rice is a water-intensive crop and needs good monsoons and a waterlogged condition when replanted, In India due to the dry season, many farmers didn’t sow the crop, and still, others got their ripening paddy fields were destroyed due to torrential rains with very unpredictable monsoon this year in the country, raising concerns about food inflation.
According to Shanghai JC Intelligence Co Ltd consultancy, due to high temperatures and droughts in rice-growing regions, the rice production in the world’s largest rice consumer in China will drop by 2.9%. This is a drastic change from the last year when a record 21.2 million tonnes of exports were 30% cheaper than other rival rice suppliers this even helped to cap the global rice prices while the other food commodities soared due to supply disruption.
India-s export ban has helped the rival suppliers Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar to increase their presence in the global market but with limited surplus stocks for exports. Despite the increased production in Vietnam and Thailand this year they will be able to add only 2% to fill the void in requirement.
Read more – India’s expanding nuclear arsenal – SLBM launched by INS Arihant
Read more – Medical colleges – Places where ragging students has become a part of medical education
Read more – The Indian AI enabled Coploscope – A ray of hope for the fight against cervical cancer
