World Bank Expects International Rice Prices to Climb 17 pct This Year

The World Bank projects international rice prices to climb 17 percent from a year earlier to US$510 a tonne in 2023, before settling lower at US$490 a tonne next year.

In its annual Commodity Market Outlook released in Washington Thursday, the bank said rice prices had risen 11 percent in the first quarter of this year on the back of strong demand and tight supplies

Strong demand has reflected “major festivals and restocking in Asia” along with currency appreciations against the U.S. dollar in India, Thailand and Vietnam, the bank said.

Tight supplies are meanwhile affecting “most of Asia’s rice producers — including China, India, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam,” it said.

The bank said another factor was “devastated harvests and exports of rice” following floods in Pakistan in September last year.

International rice prices – based on prices for long-grain rice (5 percent broken) in Thailand – averaged US$437 a tonne last year, down from US$458 a tonne in 2021 and US$497 a tonne in 2020.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP)