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Rice output in India, the world's second-largest grower, is set to climb to a record as early arrival of monsoon over the biggest growing regions spurs planting, potentially boosting exports.
The monsoon crop might increase 2.4 per cent to 95 million tonnes from 92.75 million tonnes a year earlier, said P Chengal Reddy, secretary general of the Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations. The crop is planted from June and harvested from October and accounts for 90 per cent of the nation's total production.
A bigger harvest might help India retain its position as the top exporter and further lower global food costs tracked by the United Nations' Food & Agriculture Organization, which fell in May for the first time in four months. While rice prices are poised for a third year of gains in Chicago, corn and wheat have tumbled into bear markets after surging last year. when the worst drought since the 1930s wilted crops in the US.
"Given the forecast for a normal monsoon, the area under rice will certainly be more than last year," Trilochan Mohapatra, director of the Central Rice Research Institute, said in a phone interview from Delhi. "The production of rice is going to exceed" last season's levels, he said.
