US rice futures fell more than 2.5 per cent yesterday, deepening a retreat from last week's record high, but traders and industry officials do not expect the market to fall back to levels seen in recent years even though prices may ease further.
Thailand, the world's top rice exporter, has announced it would release 2.1 million tonnes of stockpiled rice into the domestic market for the first time in nearly 18 months as the government moved to cool prices that have nearly trebled this year. Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sansuwan also said Thailand would maintain its 2008 export target of at least nine million tonnes and could ship a bit more.
President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines, the world's biggest rice importer, yesterday urged fellow Filipinos to boil rice with yams or to eat cheaper cereals to avoid going hungry.
Asean is ready to tackle the issue of soaring food prices by implementing a number of measures, including the strengthening of its existing food security mechanism, the bloc's Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan has been quoted as saying.
India slapped export taxes on basmati rice but Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram assured Parliament that fears of food shortages were unfounded with bumper harvests of both rice and wheat expected this year.
China is looking at developing farms in places like Russia and South America as it seeks new ways to feed the world's largest population, state media reported.