Lhe Camargue rice farmer smiled. When the harvest is complete, the grass volume is quite full. “Our production should reach around 90,000 tons, the highest in ten years”predicted Bertrand Mazel, president of the French Rice Farmers’ Union.
This is reminiscent of a tropical climate that encourages growth in fields. However, it is the increase in the area of land planted with grass that plays a role in this. The surface area of rice fields increased, in one year, in French territory, from 13,000 to 15,000 hectares. Grain appeal. Indeed, in 2024 the price of rice will increase. World prices increased by almost 50%. In fact, this surge actually started in the summer of 2023, when India decided to limit grass exports to fight inflation. However, this country alone represents 40% of world rice trade. When this trading brake is released in the fall of 2024, price declines accelerate.
The decline was also weighed down by a record global crop harvested in 2025. The amount is expected to reach a new high of 838 million tonnes, or the equivalent of 556 million tonnes of white rice, according to the latest estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In the context of rice barns that have sufficient supplies, FAO estimates that rice stock levels in 2026 will reach 215.4 million tonnes, representing 40% of annual global demand. Therefore, in the financial markets, the situation has turned around. World prices are at their lowest point. The price rose from more than 600 dollars (520 euros) per ton to less than 350, between spring 2024 and autumn 2025. Rice prices are modest.
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