Rice prices may spike after India bans rice export

MANILA, Philippines — An agriculture expert warned that the retail prices of rice will further go up after the decision of India to impose a rice export ban.

In an interview with One News’ “The Chiefs,” former agriculture undersecretary Fermin Adriano noted that while the ban will not affect the supply as India only supplies minimal rice to the Philippines, it may trigger a spike in global rice prices because of speculation.

“Businessmen are now speculating because of the Indian action. Certainly the speculators or producers in other countries thinking of higher profit will jack up their prices, but they have given us the assurance they are not resorting to a rice export ban, which is good for us,” Adriano said.

Adriano noted that Vietnam, which supplies more than 90 percent of the Philippines’ rice imports, already increased its price of the staple to $600 per metric ton compared to the previous $500 per MT.

“If Vietnam raises its prices, I just saw that they are raising it now, that will really hurt us, it will lead to an increase in the prices,” Adriano said.

India has said it was imposing an export ban on non-basmati white rice after retail rice prices climbed three percent in a month after monsoon rains caused significant damage to crops.

Adriano noted that as of June 2023, the country already imported at least 1.8 million MT of rice.

According to him, based on the data from the Department of Agriculture (DA), there was a good harvest for the first six months of the year.

“Hopefully we will have another round of good harvest, again it is unpredictable because of the weather that we are experiencing right now. A lot of the rice and corn in the north, particularly in Cagayan, also in Occidental Mindoro have been hit by Typhoon Egay, which is a real problem,” he said.

Based on the monitoring of the DA, the retail prices of imported well-milled rice rose to as high as P48 per kilo; imported premium rice, P50 per kilo and imported special rice, P58 per kilo.

Retail prices of local rice ranged between P44 and P60 per kilo.