India announced an export restriction on non-basmati white rice in July of 2023.
According to the Asian country, this was owing to rising domestic costs and worries of a crop output shortage due to El Niño.
India also said that this was also due to other global crises, such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict that disrupted the global economy.
Multiple news outlets across the world have reported that this has caused a global shortage and market crisis which they believe is artificial.
The nation is the world’s top rice exporter, generating around 41% of of global exports.
“As a result of India’s ban on rice exports, global fears about rice supplies have grown, and rice prices have risen,” senior economist at the National Agricultural Marketing Council, Thabile Nkunjana told IOL.
“These developments are worrying, especially for countries that consume rice in relatively large quantities while being unable to produce it domestically, such as South Africa, its neighbours, and many African and Asian countries.”
News outlet CNBC cited data from the International Food Policy Research Institute which showed that rice prices increased by 15 to 20% and reached their highest level in over 12 years.
Vice president of operations and strategy at ClimateAi, told CNBC that because India has experienced substantial food insecurity, there is a reasonable need to assure adequate supply of essential commodities such as rice throughout the country.
Bloomberg reported that New Dehli has “tightened a noose around the global rice market”.
“India likes to present itself as a leader of the Global South, capable of an empathy for developing nations that stands in stark contrast to the West or China, which show little concern for the impact of their policies on poorer countries,” Bloomberg reported.
“But, as the International Food Policy Research Institute has pointed out, it is not the West that will suffer as a result.”
This is not the first time that a rice crisis occurred. Around 2007, the cost of basic essentials like maize and wheat sky-rocketed as unfavourable weather endangered harvests.
The grain was in plentiful supply, but rising food costs alarmed governments. As a result, New Delhi quickly implemented export restrictions.
IOL