While rice prices fall globally, Nigerians pay all-time highs

While global rice prices have dropped to their lowest point in 16 years, rice prices in Nigeria are soaring to unprecedented levels.

A 50kg bag of rice now costs over N95,000 in Nigeria, the highest price in the nation’s history, exacerbating the challenges faced by households already struggling with inflation.

Globally, rice prices have seen a significant decline, driven by India’s recent decision to ease export restrictions.

India, the world’s largest rice exporter, had previously banned exports of non-basmati white rice and imposed a 20% duty on parboiled rice exports. These moves, implemented last year, had driven rice prices to a 15-year high.

However, with a better-than-expected harvest, India lifted some of these restrictions, including cutting the export duty on parboiled rice to 10%. This prompted other rice-exporting countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and Pakistan to lower their prices in response to the increased supply.

On Monday, India’s 5% broken parboiled variety was quoted at $500-$510 per metric ton, down from the last week’s $530-$536. Indian 5% broken white rice was offered around $490.

Thai rice prices were quoted at $540-$550 on Monday, down from last week’s $550 to $560 per ton.

India accounted for more than 40% of the world’s rice exports in 2022, a record 22.2 million metric tons out of a total 55.4 million metric tons of global trade.

Himanshu Agarwal, executive director of Satyam Balajee, a leading rice exporter, noted that “suppliers from Thailand, Vietnam, and Pakistan are responding to India’s move by lowering their export prices,” as all players in the market try to remain competitive.

Despite these global trends, rice prices in Nigeria continue to climb.

Although Nigeria banned the importation of rice during the Buhari regime, citing the need to protect local farmers, it is still regarded as one of the top rice importers in the world.

But the import restriction has since pushed prices to the roof with domestic production unable to meet demand.

The situation has been made worse by rising fuel prices, transportation costs, and other economic pressures that amplify the cost of food.

According to Reuters, buyers and sellers are evaluating the potential impact of increased Indian rice supplies and accordingly prices would settle this week, said Nitin Gupta, senior vice president of Olam Agri India, according to Reuters.