2.5 billion in asia feeling the rice shortage

India rice export prices up again
Ethirajan Anbarasan , BBC
28 March 2008

India has raised the minimum price at which it exports non-basmati rice in a renewed effort to discourage exports and control domestic food costs.

This is the second time in a month that India has raised its minimum price for exporting rice. The price has gone up from $650 to $1,000 per tonne for non-basmati rice.

India is the second-largest rice producer in the world. It usually exports more than four million tonnes of rice a year.

... India ended its reliance on food imports in the 1970s, largely to the government's so-called Green Revolution.

But two years ago, it imported wheat for the first time in six years following a significant drop in its stockpiles. The government wants to avoid a similar situation for its rice stocks. The problem is an international one, as global rice stocks have reached a 25-year low.
(28 March 2008)
Suggested by contributor Dr. Larry Hughes.

Jeffrey J. Brown ("westexas) writes:
I think that we are going to increasingly see bilateral trade between food and energy exporters. It's not a good time to be both a major food and a major energy importer. See Jump in rice price fuels fears of unrest (Financial Times, March 28)

Rice prices jumped 30 per cent to an all-time high on Thursday, raising fears of fresh outbreaks of social unrest across Asia where the grain is a staple food for more than 2.5bn people.

The increase came after Egypt, a leading exporter, imposed a formal ban on selling rice abroad to keep local prices down, and the Philippines announced plans for a major purchase of the grain in the international market to boost supplies. Global rice stocks are at their lowest since 1976.