The Price Trap: Oversupply and Export Competition in Global Rice Trade

• World rice prices have fallen sharply in 2025 under the weight of record supplies and stocks. Across Asia, rice growers are grappling with thin or negative margins. Barring a major supply shock, the coming year may bring even lower prices. It is nearly a predictable outcome. • This is already spur...

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Autores principales: Mirzabaev, Alisher, Zwinger, Jeremy
Formato: Brief
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Rice Research Institute 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178146
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author Mirzabaev, Alisher
Zwinger, Jeremy
author_browse Mirzabaev, Alisher
Zwinger, Jeremy
author_facet Mirzabaev, Alisher
Zwinger, Jeremy
author_sort Mirzabaev, Alisher
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description • World rice prices have fallen sharply in 2025 under the weight of record supplies and stocks. Across Asia, rice growers are grappling with thin or negative margins. Barring a major supply shock, the coming year may bring even lower prices. It is nearly a predictable outcome. • This is already spurring aggressive price cuts by leading exporters to maintain market share and clear stockpiles. The greatest risk is a continued price war among leading exporters – a “race to the bottom” that could push rice values to multi-year lows. In a glut, the exporter that cuts earlier tends to capture market share, while late cutters suffer steeper price declines with weaker demand response. The reality for the rice trade is that you cannot catch demand when the market is rapidly falling. • However, aggressive pricing strategies, if not mitigated by other policy interventions, often carry unintended side effects in terms of lowering farming incomes, increasing fiscal burdens, eroding exports quality, and amplifying market distortions. Falling into such a price trap may undermine long-term food security. Persistently low prices can discourage farmers from planting rice, leading to supply shortfalls later. With the market cycle at a historic high supply, a downshift has been anticipated. But the question is: How long will it last and what will the global rice trade landscape be like after it shifts?
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spelling CGSpace1781462025-11-25T02:01:32Z The Price Trap: Oversupply and Export Competition in Global Rice Trade Mirzabaev, Alisher Zwinger, Jeremy commodity markets exports prices international trade rice supply balance supply response to price • World rice prices have fallen sharply in 2025 under the weight of record supplies and stocks. Across Asia, rice growers are grappling with thin or negative margins. Barring a major supply shock, the coming year may bring even lower prices. It is nearly a predictable outcome. • This is already spurring aggressive price cuts by leading exporters to maintain market share and clear stockpiles. The greatest risk is a continued price war among leading exporters – a “race to the bottom” that could push rice values to multi-year lows. In a glut, the exporter that cuts earlier tends to capture market share, while late cutters suffer steeper price declines with weaker demand response. The reality for the rice trade is that you cannot catch demand when the market is rapidly falling. • However, aggressive pricing strategies, if not mitigated by other policy interventions, often carry unintended side effects in terms of lowering farming incomes, increasing fiscal burdens, eroding exports quality, and amplifying market distortions. Falling into such a price trap may undermine long-term food security. Persistently low prices can discourage farmers from planting rice, leading to supply shortfalls later. With the market cycle at a historic high supply, a downshift has been anticipated. But the question is: How long will it last and what will the global rice trade landscape be like after it shifts? 2025-11-01 2025-11-25T01:15:56Z 2025-11-25T01:15:56Z Brief https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178146 en Open Access application/pdf International Rice Research Institute Mirzabaev, Alisher and Jeremy Zwinger (2025). The Price Trap: Oversupply and Export Competition in Global Rice Trade. IRRI Rice Market Briefs No. 5, November 1, 2025. Los Baños, Philippines: International Rice Research Institute. 6 p.
spellingShingle commodity markets
exports
prices
international trade
rice
supply balance
supply response to price
Mirzabaev, Alisher
Zwinger, Jeremy
The Price Trap: Oversupply and Export Competition in Global Rice Trade
title The Price Trap: Oversupply and Export Competition in Global Rice Trade
title_full The Price Trap: Oversupply and Export Competition in Global Rice Trade
title_fullStr The Price Trap: Oversupply and Export Competition in Global Rice Trade
title_full_unstemmed The Price Trap: Oversupply and Export Competition in Global Rice Trade
title_short The Price Trap: Oversupply and Export Competition in Global Rice Trade
title_sort price trap oversupply and export competition in global rice trade
topic commodity markets
exports
prices
international trade
rice
supply balance
supply response to price
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178146
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