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03-Oct-2026 12:13 PM
New Delhi: Anticipating the severe impact of the El Niño weather cycle and amidst ongoing conflicts involving Iran-US and Russia-Ukraine, African nations have begun stockpiling large quantities of rice. This trend is accelerating the pace of rice export shipments from India and driving up prices. It is worth noting that African countries are the largest importers of Indian non-basmati rice.
Severe unrest prevails in West Asia, the Middle East, and the Gulf region, rendering several waterways unsafe for commercial shipping. Similarly, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has made the Black Sea route hazardous. African nations are striving to import massive quantities of rice from India to ensure food security for their populations before the situation worsens further. Consequently, global rice market prices are rising; export offer prices for Indian rice have increased by approximately 20 percent over the past few months.
A leading Delhi-based exporter stated that African countries are purchasing rice aggressively to build buffer stocks—a scenario rarely witnessed. At Kakinada port alone, 20 vessels are currently anchored, ready to load a combined total of 600,000 tonnes of rice; ships are being observed at various ports for rice loading operations. African nations are deeply concerned about food security, with some purchasing double their usual volumes. Meanwhile, some exporters are busy fulfilling older contracts that were delayed due to the Iran conflict.
Vietnam is facing difficulties in exporting rice to the Philippines, with the situation having worsened over the last two to three days. This will compel Vietnam to seek to increase its rice exports to African nations. Several ships from India bound for Vietnam remain stranded at sea. Meanwhile, export offer prices for Vietnamese rice have softened. The Free-on-Board (FOB) export offer price for Indian 5% broken parboiled rice, which stood at $355 per tonne in May, has now risen to $390 per tonne.
