After sunflower oil and mustard, it is the packets of rice that could be missing from the shelves of our supermarkets. The fault of poor harvests in Asia. Explanation.
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Food shortages are on the rise and could soon affect rice. Prices are up 25% over the past year due to poor harvests in Asia, particularly India and Pakistan. Basmati rice stock-outs are therefore to be feared in our supermarkets from next February. The French rice union is worried. “We have concerns for the supply of this rice, which represents 45% of rice consumption in Francealert Thierry Liévin, President of the Syndicat de la Rizerie Française (SRF). We risk having supply gaps. One month, two months, with a return of the product according to the possibility for the Indians or the Pakistanis to bring these rice to the ports to be exported.”
These supply problems are explained by the meteorological disasters suffered by the main producing countries. India has experienced severe heat and drought this summer, while many roads in Pakistan are still under water after the monster floods last September. China has also suffered from a worrying drought for its rice fields: the country already relies on imports to meet domestic demand.
As a result, the next harvest in December promises to be down sharply in Asia, probably 250,000 tonnes less than usual, which corresponds to annual French consumption. And this is likely to seriously drive up prices. “It would not be surprising to see new increases of between 20 and 25% for our consumers in the year 2023.“, warns Thierry Liévin. Especially since the climatic difficulties are compounded by geopolitical and economic factors – in particular the war in Ukraine – which have destabilized the world rice market and supplies.
A boon for European rice? Not really. Italian, Spanish and Greek rice fields, such as the Camargue, are also in trouble due to a heat wave this summer which affected yields.