China: Rice Prices and Domestic Demand Shape Trade Landscape

As international rice prices gained competitiveness over Chinese rice prices, significant import volumes have entered China since November 2020. Using current customs data, India is now China’s top rice supplier, with broken rice accounting for 97 percent of China’s imports from the supplier. As Chinese rice prices lost competitiveness, exports slowed down from momentum seen earlier during the years of 2017, 2018, and 2019. With high animal feed prices, Chinese rice has been substituted for corn over the last year which has also had a tightening effect on China’s rice export capacity.