The International Grains Council (IGC) predicts that world rice production will increase by 2 percent compared to last year. The forecast, of 482 million tons, has remained the same as the forecast made in January.
The largest increase comes from Asia. Larger crops will be harvested here in the near future. For example, Thailand is expected to produce 18,5 million tons of rice this season. That is 3 million tons more than was forecast last year. The biggest increase, however, comes from India. India is forecast to harvest 108 million tons of rice this year. Last year, that forecast was still at 104,3 million tons.
The IGC has revised its forecast for rice consumption upwards. Experts expect that 481,5 million tons of rice will be consumed this season. Last season, that forecast was 474,9 million tons of rice. The highest consumption of rice is in China. According to the report China will consume 145,5 million tons of rice this season. That is 1 million tons more than was predicted last year.
Because India will produce more rice, the IGC expects that rice consumption will also increase significantly. The researchers expect India to consume more than 97 million tons of rice this year. Last year, India consumed an average of 95 million tons of rice.
According to the IGC, export figures will also be higher this year. Experts expect that more than 40 million tons of rice will be exported this season. Last year this was more than 38 million tons of rice. The IGC believes that larger shipments of rice will be exported to Africa and Asia this season.
The IGC report shows that India is still the largest exporter of rice. The IGC forecast shows that India will export more than 10 million tons of rice this season. The country is closely followed by Thailand. They are expected to export 9,8 million tons of rice.
According to the IGC, Vietnam will export a lot more this season than last season. Last season, the country exported more than 4 million tons of rice. This season, the IGC expects Vietnam to export more than 5,5 million tons.
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