NEW DELHI (Commodity Online): With prices of all essential commodities, especially pulses, hitting the roof, here is another dampener. The price of rice – staple food for many in India – is all set to rise.

India is creating a record after almost two decades if it decides to import rice, if it does. Weather has played truant in the rice growing areas of India.

Not to be left behind is rice crazy Philippines, which was hit by cyclones that damaged its standing crop of rice putting the country into one of the biggest disastrous zones in food security.

To help these countries Thailand, world’s biggest rice exporter, is to release rice from its stockpiles, thereby easing the pressure on demand, making the rice consuming countries to cushion the burgeoning prices.

By 2010, when the situation is likely to worsen, Thailand will release close to 6 MMT (Million Matric Tons) for export. Apart from India and Philippines, Indonesia and a few other Asian countries will also benefit from this State-to-state sales programme.

The programme, designed to keep rice prices and stocks under check, will immensely help to avert a 2008 like situation when rice prices got out of hand.

Though some parts of Thailand were also affected by adverse weather, its production and stocks are comfortably high even to help countries like Philippines to procure as high as 10 per cent of its total domestic consumption.

Internationally, though, Futures prices of rice have made a huge jump expecting a drastic supply cruch – which many analysts feel will not happen.

Post your comment  (0)

Connect:

Post to Twitter

Post to Facebook