Asa Wahlquist | April 22, 2008 AUSTRALIAN rice growers used to proudly boast that they fed almost 40 million people one meal every day of the year.
This year, Australia will produce its smallest rice crop since 1960 and exports will collapse.
Until 2002-03, Australia exported, on average, 620,000 tonnes of rice a year, or 80 per cent of what it produced.
But figures compiled by Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics show the 2007-08 export crop will be 70,000 tonnes, with no improvement the following year.
Gary Helou, the chief executive of Sunrice, Australia's rice exporter, said that although Australia was routinely among the top 10 exporters, it was a small player compared to the giants such as Thailand, which exports seven to 10 billion tonnes, and Vietnam, with its exports of between 3.5 and five billion tonnes.
Food supplies are tightening around the world, and prices have been rising, resulting in protests and even riots.
Mr Helou said the world rice shortage, and price rises, had been driven by climate. "There has been a run on drought and negative weather patterns across many parts of the world, all happening at the same time."
Demand is rising in a number of developing countries, including China, where there is rapidly growing demand for grain-fed protein. Grain is also being diverted to biofuels to combat climate change.
"It is affecting all agriculture," Mr Helou said. "There is less land available for food production, whether it is rice or wheat."
Australia grows temperate rice, a medium-grained variety that Mr Helou said was "a small part of the total mix. The greatest part of the rice trade, by a long way, is long grain, which we don't produce much of in this country."
But, he said, in the medium grain segment, Australia was a major player. The medium grain rice is used for risotto or sushi.
"It is a rounder, shorter stickier grain," Mr Helou said, favoured in Europe, the Pacific region, and parts of Asia and the Middle East.
Mr Helou said the Australian industry was currently focused on domestic needs. "There will be some small exports, but it is the smallest on record."
Major shortages and the most dramatic price spike is occurring in long grain rice. Vietnam, along with the big producing nations of China, India and Pakistan, has restricted exports to ensure domestic supplies, helping push by the benchmark price by more than 50 per cent in the last month.
"Today there is only one effective seller of long grain rice, and that is Thailand, and they are reeling from the impact of high demand," Mr Helou said.
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