Rice prices jumped 30 per cent to a record high yesterday, 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 large purchase of the grain in the international market to boost supplies.
Global rice stocks are at their lowest since 1976. While prices of wheat, corn and other agricultural commodities have surged since late 2006, the rice prices' increase started in January.
The Egyptian export ban formalizes a previous poorly enforced curb and follows similar restrictions imposed by Vietnam and India, the world's second and third-largest exporters. Cambodia, a small seller, also announced an export ban.
These foreign sales restrictions have removed about a third of the rice traded in the international market.
Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of Thailand's Rice Exporters Association, said: "I have no idea how importing countries will get rice." He forecast prices would rise further and warned that importing countries such as Indonesia and Iran had yet to issue tenders, leaving them exposed.
The Philippines, the world's biggest buyer of the grain, said it wanted to purchase 500,000 tonnes after it failed to buy a similar amount this month. It is struggling to import 1.8m-2.1m tonnes to cover a production shortfall and yesterday confirmed it would tap emergency stocks maintained by Vietnam and Thailand.
Rice is also a staple food in Africa, particularly in small countries such as Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Senegal, which have suffered social unrest because of high food prices.
Thai rice, a global benchmark, was quoted yesterday at $760 a tonne, up 30 per cent from the previous daily quote of about $580 a tonne, according to Reuter’s data. But some traders said the jump was not as steep, adding that Thai rice had already hit about $700 a tonne this week.
Rice prices have doubled since January, when the grain traded at about $380 a tonne, boosted by strong Asian, Middle Eastern and African demand, and tight exportable supplies across Asia, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Rice inventories, measured by the stocks-to-use ratio, have fallen to the lowest level since 1976. The drop in stocks to about 75m tonnes, half the level reached in 2000, came after demand outstripped supply in six of the last eight years.
Additional reporting by Roel Landingin in Manila
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