2023-09-08 18:57:31
World rice prices reached their highest level in 15 years in August. Over one month, the increase is 9.8%, the export restrictions decided by India having particularly weighed, indicated this Friday the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
World food prices as a whole fell slightly last month (-2.1% compared to July), dragged down by lower prices for cereals, vegetable oils, meat and dairy.
After a small rebound in July, the FAO food price index started to decline again, falling by 11.8% compared to the same time last year, and by 24% compared to the March 2022 peak, just after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
But the prices of rice, the most consumed cereal in the world alongside wheat, are directly affected by the decision taken on July 21 by New Delhi, the Indian capital, to ban the export of non-basmati white rice (around a quarter of its usual rice exports). The objective is to preserve enough of this product for its inhabitants and to limit price increases, the prices having already increased before the summer. In August, the FAO rice price index was up 31% year-on-year.
Reserves at their highest but three-quarters held by India and China
India accounts for 40% of world rice trade, ahead of Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan. The country sells quantities of broken rice to Africa, notably Senegal, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Benin, as well as to Asia (Pakistan, Philippines) and the Middle East (Turkey, Syria). ).
Many States and actors have chosen to “keep stocks”, “renegotiate contracts” or “stop making price offers”, explains the FAO. To deal with the situation, the Philippines, for example, signed an agreement with Vietnam on Thursday to secure their rice imports for five years.
However, rice reserves in the world are abundant. According to the FAO, “global stocks at the end of the 2023-2024 marketing years are still expected to reach their highest level on record”, at 198 million tonnes. This corresponds to about 38% of the rice consumption forecast over the same period.
But almost three quarters of this volume should be held by China and India; total rice reserves held by other countries are expected to fall to their lowest level in four years. Finally, some fear that the El Niño climatic phenomenon, generally associated with an increase in global temperatures, will disrupt the next harvests.
#increase #year #rice #expensive #years