FAO sees rice crop shrinking on weather, Thai changes

Bangkok

GLOBAL rice production will shrink after weak rains in India and the end of a subsidy programme in Thailand hurt supplies from the biggest exporters, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Worldwide output of milled grain will probably drop 0.4 per cent to 496.4 million tonnes in the 2014-2015 season from a year earlier, the United Nations agency said in a quarterly report on Tuesday. Ending stockpiles will drop 2 per cent to 177.7 million tonnes in 2014-2015, the first contraction in a decade, while global trade expands 1.1 per cent to a record 40 million tonnes in calendar year 2015, the FAO said.