Rice prices to rise if drought persists

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the El Nino phenomenon has reappeared. Heat waves and prolonged droughts have appeared in South and Southeast Asia.

Drought is occurring in many places around the world (in the photo is the drought in Hung Nguyen caused by the early season heat wave) - PhotoHoang Duc An.

This is the first time El Nino has reappeared since 2009, causing heavy rain in the Americas, while Asian countries become hot and dry. If El Nino appears in Southeast Asia, it will directly affect agriculture, causing strong impacts on rice exports of three countries India, Vietnam and Thailand.

As evidence, many places have had no rain at all, or very little rain, until June. If rain does not appear in July, many rice growing areas will be left empty.

In Thailand, the water shortage is very serious, in 22/76 provinces the Government has asked farmers to postpone rice planting, affecting 3.41 million out of 4.16 million hectares of cultivated rice area... According to FAO, global rice production decreased by an average of 0.5%, reaching only 741.3 million tons in 2014.

Despite the decrease in production, rice prices in 2015 did not increase compared to 2014, partly due to Thailand reducing the accumulated reserves left by the previous government, causing prices to fall from 490 USD/ton in June 2014 to 405 USD/ton in June 2015. However, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association (TRFA), if extreme weather conditions continue to recur, rice prices will increase sharply in the future....

According to NNVN