Industry executives report that the recent unequal distribution of rainfall in the primary rice cultivation regions has resulted in a notable surge in grain prices, with an increase of up to 20% within the past 10 days.
Suraj Agarwal, the Chief Executive of RiceVilla, a rice marketing and exporting company, said that heavy rainfall in northern India has increased the price of the new basmati rice by 9% in the last one week, while scanty rains in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh have pushed up the prices of the common variety of rice -IR 64, which is distributed through public distribution system – by 20%. “This is partly because of the higher minimum support price and also due to lesser rain,” said Agarwal. “Traders are holding back the stock.”
The fluctuating rainfall patterns are impacting crops such as moong, urad, and soya bean. As of July 10, the cultivation of pulses and soya bean has declined by over 10% compared to the previous year, while rice cultivation is lagging behind by more than 13%.
Alok Ranjan Ghosh, Director of agriculture of Bihar, said “paddy nursery coverage now stands at 96.6% and the paddy coverage is at 17.7%”.
As per Ghosh’s observations, only a single district has experienced above-average rainfall, while 10 districts have received normal precipitation. Twenty-two districts have faced a deficit in rainfall so far, and five districts have received insufficient rain.
“We are expecting good rainfall in the next three days which may give a boost to the paddy crop,” said Ghosh.
Bihar’s annual rice production stands at 77.17 lakh tonnes. In India, the price surge of rice is four times higher than the international rate, which has increased by 5% over the past two weeks.
