Drought and restrictions on Indian exports boost rice prices

India is the world’s largest exporter of rice. Almost 40% of the world trade in this commodity is concentrated in the country, which in the middle of the summer decided to drastically limit the export of this staple food. A political decision, to keep prices stable in its domestic market, which has opened the doors to an international earthquake, because the rest of the producers are not able to cover the entire demand for this commodity without the prices skyrocketing.

Go up, they’ve already gone up. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) publishes a rice price index, which in autumn is 30% above the level of a year ago. Although there was a slight respite in September, this was “due to the fact that import demand was generally low.” However, the FAO assumes that there is “constant uncertainty” due to the restrictions in India and the “progressive reduction in supply before the new harvests in Asia.”