Rice Prices Climbed to Records in Indonesia in January, UN Says
Rice prices rose to records in January in Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most-populous nation, prompting the government to suspend the import duty on the grain, the United Nations said.
National prices averaged 9,244 rupiah ($1.01) a kilogram (2.2 pounds), up 23 percent from a year earlier, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report on its website today. Indonesia’s government has been “actively buying” rice on world markets, the FAO said.
Prices remained at record highs last month in Bangladesh, the largest South Asian rice buyer, reflecting reduced inventories, according to the report.
The grain is the staple food for more than half of the world population, according to the International Rice Research Institute.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Dreibus in London at tdreibus@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
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