The shipping rates have drastically increased since the pandemic due to a shortage of ships. Adding to that, the weak demand during optimum supply is affecting the Indian rice rates dramatically.
Indian Rice Export Price Stooped to the Lowest Level
The rice export prices in India have fallen to a four-and-a-half-year low. The fall is mainly attributed to the low demand, logistical bottlenecks, lack of buyers, ship shortage, and high shipping rates. The said reasons have been having a pretentious effect on the prices for two weeks straight now.
Price Rates Affected in Several Countries
Currently, India’s 5% broken parboiled rice variety is at $354- $358 per tonne. However, it was high at $366 per tonne in the last week. Contrarily, Thailand’s 5% broken rice prices rose marginally from $408 to $410 per tonne of rice. The Thailand rice prices haven’t been this low since July 2019. Both the countries experience fluctuations due to the exchange rates; comments a Bangkok based Rice exporter. Amid the price fluctuations, Vietnam’s 5% broken rice remains unchanged at $390 per tonne.
Supply Remains High as Usual
A trader from Ho Chi Minh City shared that the farmers are finding it highly difficult to sell their newly harvested rice. On the other hand, Indian farmers have planted 26.5 million hectares of paddy rice as of July 30 this year. Also, the exporters and farmers are worried in the Mekong Delta region as the domestic supplies are going up while demand is easing down.
Bearing the hardship in mind, Bangladesh purchased over 50000 tonnes of rice from India at a high price of $377.88. Even though, the rate seems higher, in actuality it is lower than the usual quota. Nevertheless, it eases Indian exporters. Further, in Vietnam government is planning to purchase rice from the farmers to reduce the burden.
In all, the Indian prices rates have been fluctuating these days that has a drastic effect on the farmers and rice exporters. Due to the pandemic, the livelihood of these farmers and exporters is highly volatile all over the world.