A recent report showed that the world is heading towards the worst crisis in rice supplies in years during the current year 2023, coinciding with the decline in production and the rise in prices from the far east to the far west.
According to Fitch Solutions, the global rice market will record the largest deficit in two decades this year, which is believed to affect about 3.5 billion people, most of whom are concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, which consumes 90% of the world's rice.
Analysts told CNBC that a deficit of this size in one of the most cultivated grains in the world would hurt major importers, at a time when countries were preparing to overcome pressures in other grain supplies.
“Globally, the most obvious impact of the rice deficit has been a rise in prices to the highest level in a decade,” said Charles Hart, a commodities analyst at Fitch Solutions.
Rice prices are expected to remain near current high levels until 2024, according to a report issued by Fitch in April.
The average price of rice has reached $17.30 per quintal (about 45 kilograms on the American scale) since the beginning of 2023 until now, and will decline to $14.50 per quintal in 2024, according to the report.
Okaz (Riyadh) @okaz_online