Indian Rice Imports to Cause 'Major Swing' in Trade Next Year
Luzi Ann Javier and Zeb Eckert Bloomberg Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:17 CST
Indian rice imports next year will create a "fairly major swing" in global trade and push prices higher, commodities supplier Olam International Ltd. said.
The South Asian nation may import 2 million to 3 million metric tons, Sunny Verghese, chief executive officer of Singapore-based Olam, which trades commodities including rice, coffee and sugar, said today. India will export 1.5 million tons next year, compared with an average of 4.5 million tons from 2002 to 2008, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures.
Recent floods in the country's south may slash the next harvest, which starts in January, pushing imports to as high as 5 million tons, Tejinder Narang, a commodities analyst and former director of PEC Ltd., an Indian state-owned agricultural trader, said in a phone interview from New Delhi today.
