Analysis: Global rice supplies at risk as harsh weather hits top exporters

SINGAPORE/MUMBAI, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Adverse weather across top rice suppliers in Asia, including the biggest exporter India, is threatening to reduce the output of the world’s most important food staple and stoke food inflation that is already near record highs.

Rice has bucked the trend of rising food prices amid bumper crops and large inventories at exporters over the past two years, even as COVID-19, supply disruptions and more recently the Russia-Ukraine conflict made other grains costlier.

But inclement weather in exporting countries in Asia, which accounts for about 90% of the world’s rice output, is likely to change the price trajectory, traders…