Grain producers saw the value of their output fall in 2023 and the best they can hope for in 2024 is to stem the bleeding. Meanwhile, Europeans are frustrated as the price of cocoa has risen more than 50 percent over the past year. Asians are frightened as the price of rice has risen nearly 40 percent over that same period. Rice is a staple food crop and consumes a large share of disposable income, making an outsized inflationary impact. Asia produces and consumes most of the world’s rice and and very little of it is traded. India is the largest exporter and it imposed a ban on non-Basmati white rice exports to trim inflation. Now there is concern that other suppliers could do the same. Traditional consumers of rice might hold fear,...

TAGS – Wheat, Asia