Global rice production for 2023 is set to log its largest shortfall in two decades, a report by Fitch Solutions has warned, adding that a shortfall of about 8.7 million tons – the biggest since the 2003/04 fiscal year, has been forecast, and that rice production has been caused by bad weather in China in the second half of 2022, along with record flooding in Pakistan and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The price of rice has already risen and flow-on impacts are likely to hit major importers such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and countries in Africa, according to a report by CNBC. “At the global level, the most evident impact of the global rice deficit has been, and still is, decade-high rice prices,” Fitch Solutions’ commodities analyst Charles Hart was quoted as telling the news outlet.
Another natural event that could dent rice production is El Niño, which is set to return this year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has predicted.
Read the full report: CNBC.
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