PHNOM PENH: The World Bank projects international rice prices to climb 17 percent from a year earlier to $510 a tonne in 2023, before settling lower at $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 $437 a tonne last year, down from $458 a tonne in 2021 and $497 a tonne in 2020.
