The World Market

The first thing anyone will tell you about the world market for rice is that it is ‘thin’. In other words, of all the rice that’s grown, only a very small proportion is traded internationally: around 4 per cent. The figure for wheat is about 50 per cent. The market is also extremely lumpy. Some countries are major growers but very minor traders; others just the opposite. As a result of these two factors, the market fluctuates alarmingly. In 1973/4, a crisis year for Asia, world rice production dropped back just 5 per cent from the 1972 figure. On the open market, prices tripled. There is in any case a wide range of prices for different grades of rice; prime Basmati will usually sell for at least three times the price of Thai ‘brokens’.