Last year, India restricted non-Basmati rice exports believing there would be a weather-related short supply. Production was ample and now the country faces record high inventories that will likely be dumped on the world market. The OECD calculates that Indian farmers are implicitly taxed $120 billion a year due to export restrictions. Dry conditions were expected to impact Indonesia’s rice production, but now the ministry says rice imports may not be needed in 2025. South Korea’s population and rice demand is falling and so Seoul has been incentivizing farmers to grow alternative crops like wheat as an import substitution measure. Rice is not as large a food grain as corn and wheat, but it occupies more emotional importance, especiall...

TAGS – North America, Macroeconomics