Increase in rice demand may benefit Pakistan, says FAO report.

ISLAMABAD -- The intensification of demand for rice from all regions of the world, except Asia, is expected to benefit Pakistan to register strong rebounds in 2022, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations says in its report on 'World Food Outlook'.

The international trade in rice is anticipated to expand for the third consecutive year in 2022, with volumes exchanged across the world forecast at 53.1 million tonnes - three per cent higher than the 2021 peak.

The report says this may benefit shipments from Brazil, China, Pakistan, Uruguay and especially Thailand. India is predicted to remain the world's largest rice exporter, report says.

In Pakistan, the record high output of rice stood at 9.323 million tonnes during 2020-21 - higher by 10.7 per cent than previous year's production of 8.420 million tonnes. Official statistics showed that from the last couple of years, area under rice cultivation is witnessing a rising trend. As domestic rice production exceeds domestic annual requirement, the country often has exportable surplus.

Country produced 9.3m tonnes of rice in 2020-21 against 8.4m tonnes in 2019-20

FAO's biannual report, released last week, says total rice utilisation in 2022-23 is pegged at 522 million tonnes, only slightly above the 2021-22 high, as another sturdy expansion in food intake is forecast to be mostly outweighed by declines in non-food uses. To meet this forecast volume of use, global rice inventories would need to be drawn down, albeit by a small volume of 0.8 million tonnes.

This would place world rice stocks at 191.6 million tonnes, their second highest level on record, largely due to accumulations in China (mainland) and India. International rice prices have risen steadily since the beginning of 2022 amid strong import demand and supply constraints in the Japonica and fragrant segments.

The 2022 season is by now well-advanced south of the equator, where harvests of the first or sole crop of the season have wrapped up, while in the northern hemisphere, sowings of 2022 crops have just begun. Although much will depend on weather patterns, especially in the context of the lingering La Nina conditions, FAO pegs its preliminary forecast for world rice production in 2022 at 519.5 million tonnes (milled basis), implying a minor (1.4 million tonnes) fall from the 2021 record-high and the second largest harvest...