World rice production contracts slightly but international prices remain soft
Thailand heading for world number-one rice exporter in 2015
10/04/2015, Bangkok/Rome – Following years of bumper harvests, rice production has experienced its first annual contraction since 2009, while
global prices for the grain remain soft, according to the first rice market report of 2015, published today by the UN’s
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
FAO has lowered its 2014 estimated global paddy production by 3.3 million tonnes since December, to 741.3 million tonnes
(494.4 million tonnes milled), a level only 0.5 percent below the record 2013 performance. The largest downward revision
related to Thailand, one of the world’s leading rice exporters, where unseasonable dryness leading to severe constraints
in water availability for irrigation has taken a heavy toll on secondary crop production, the April 2015 issue of the FAO Rice Market Monitor concludes.
While the dreaded effects of El Niño failed to materialize, a poor monsoon has affected the main and secondary crop
cycles in India, another leading rice exporter, causing production prospects for the country to deteriorate further.
“Thailand’s rice production (paddy) declined by 2.7 percent in 2014 to 34.3 million tonnes (22.7 million tonnes milled
rice), due mainly to a decline of secondary crop outputs affected by cuts in planted areas,” said Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO
Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific. “However, in 2015, Thailand is expected
to increase production by 2.1 percent.”
FAO’s Rice Market Monitor predicts that, under more normal climatic conditions, 2015 will see a modest recovery of around one percent in world
paddy output to 750 million tonnes.
“While nature was chiefly behind the lack of last season’s growth, a prolonged period of falling prices also played a
role. Such low prices are encouraging several governments, especially in exporting countries, to engage in less
supportive production policies and to pay more attention to other considerations, such as the negative environment
impacts of rice cultivation, and the heavy budgetary implications of holding bulging public stocks,” said Konuma.“This
shift of emphasis, which translated into constant or lower official procurement prices and more stringent limits on rice
cultivation, in part explains the modest pace of production growth forecast for 2015.”
India top exporter
Rice exports by India and Thailand surged in late 2014. The latest revisions for rice exports indicate that India edged
out Thailand to retain the position of top rice exporter, shipping an unprecedented 11.3 million tonnes, only slightly
ahead of Thailand’s 11.0 million tonnes (milled). However the FAO report predicts that Thailand will regain the title of
top exporter in 2015, when it is forecast to export 11.2 million tonnes compared to 9.3 million tonnes for India.
Self-sufficiency drive could slow imports
In spite of falling international prices, many rice importing countries continue to pursue policies to reach
self-sufficiency in rice production. Among the most prominent, Indonesia is forecast to reduce its imports by 25 percent
in 2015, Philippines by some 21 percent, and Bangladesh by 36 percent. Against that backdrop, exporter competition for
markets is likely to intensify further in the course of the year.
ENDS