INDIA BANS RICE EXPORTS

India has announced that it will ban the export of non-basmati white rice with immediate effect. The country is the world’s leading rice exporter, owning more than 40% of the world’s rice trade.

India is the second-largest producer of rice after China.

The country’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs said the ban would help ensure the country has “adequate availability” of non-basmati rice for its own people, as well as “allay the rise in prices in the domestic market”.

Eve Barre, ASEAN economist at trade credit insurer Coface, told CNBC that the world’s rice supplies are about to take a turn for the worst.

“Global rice (supplies) would drastically tighten… since the country is the world’s second top producer of the food staple”.

The latest ban could mean that already elevated prices could increase even more after India’s ban on shipments of broken rice implemented in September 2022.

It’s expected that global rice prices will soon reach its highest levels in 10 years.

Image credit: VOA News