Rice futures were trading above the $17-per-hundredweight mark, not far from a two-year peak of $18 touched in May, as lingering concerns about tightening supplies continued to drive prices higher. Adverse weather across top rice suppliers in Asia, including the biggest exporter India, threatens to reduce the continent's output, which accounts for almost 90% of the world's rice production. At the same time, EU output is forecast at the lowest level since 1995/96 on severe drought conditions in Italy and Spain. A similar trend is seen in the United States, with forecasts pointing to lower production. Such severe disruptions in global supplies combined with a record level of consumption worldwide should supercharge existing upward momentum in the market and further fuel food inflation, which is already at record high levels.
Historically, Rice reached an all time high of 24.46 in April of 2008. Rice - data, forecasts, historical chart - was last updated on August of 2022.
Rice is expected to trade at 17.45 USD/CWT by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate it to trade at 18.25 in 12 months time.