‘Some will go hungry, some will starve’: Global rice shortages feared after India bans exports
The Indian government has banned the export of non-basmati white rice – trigging fears of shortages and price rises across the world.
India is the world’s largest supplier of the food – making up 40% of global exports – which more than three billion people rely on as a staple.
Last year it exported around 22 million tonnes, of which almost half constituted the now-banned non-premium rice.
The ban comes after the cost of rice soared by 11.5% in a year in the country, and the government has introduced the ban in the hope it will lower prices and improve availability domestically.
At the Singla Rice Mills in Kurukshetra, Haryana, they export non-basmati rice to many countries in Africa.
They have plenty of stock, but now cannot sell it to some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Harsh Singla is a third-generation rice mill owner in his family business which his grandfather began in 1960. The ban has left him facing uncertainty and revenue loss – as well as a large amount of stock.
Harsh Singla, Rice Mill owner (right) and an exporter look over the rice in Haryana
Harsh Singla
He told Sky News: “Price rises in rice are due to other expenses like labour and other factors… If they think putting a ban will control the price, it will not happen.
“There is a huge demand in the domestic market also, so it will not let the price go down. Banning it will affect the prices in importing countries.
“They will not be able to get a good amount from the rest of the world, because India is a major supplier of this rice.”
He is also concerned for his African customers – and the shortages and price hikes they are likely to face.
“Many of my clients will be cut off due to this. We will not be able to supply to them. Now we will have to find new buyers in the domestic market. The ban has disrupted our lines,”‘ he said.
Stocks of rice in Haryana – which now cannot be exported to Africa
Haryana rice field
The weather has also had an impact and was a factor in the ban. Torrential rains and floods in northern India have devastated large regions where rice is grown.
Rob Hatchett, a senior economist at S&P Global Commodity Insights, said: “It’s important to understand the implications that an El Nino pattern can have on Asian rice production.
“Certainly, within India, we have seen erratic precipitation levels from the Indian monsoon, which I think has brought up some supply concerns in and of itself.”
Farmer Paramjit, 57, sat beside his flooded fields as he told Sky News: “I’ve lost almost 40% of my entire crops due to rain. I have had to sow paddy three times now and it’s still threatening to rain and cause floods here.”
Of the ban on exports, he said: “We used to get a good rate for the rice as we sell it to exporters, but that will end now. It’s a big loss to us, farmers and the government.”
Haryana rice field
Global food supplies have already been hit due to the war in Ukraine. Russia has bombed warehouses and pulled out of the UN-brokered deal to let Ukraine export grain through the Black Sea, fuelling fresh fears of a looming crisis for those in urgent need.
The UN has warned there are already 362 million people around the world who are in need of food and other humanitarian aid.
UN Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths said: “For many of those 362 million people, it’s not a matter of sadness or disappointment. It’s a matter of threat to their future and the future of their children and their families.
“They’re not sad. They’re angry. They’re worried. They’re concerned. Some will go hungry. Some will starve. Many may die.”
The government’s decision to introduce the ban comes as it faces mounting criticism over inflationary pressure on household incomes, including spiralling food prices.
With general elections less than a year away, it is unwilling to take any more chances.
But the global price insecurity and availability of food supplies may come at a cost to the most vulnerable in some of the poorest countries in the world.
World
Putin not listed in Russian delegation for talks with Ukraine in Turkey and Trump also not attending
Vladimir Putin has not been listed in a Russian delegation expected to go to Turkey for talks on Thursday with Ukraine.
The Russian president signed an order on Wednesday detailing who would be in the delegation to Istanbul, including presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, deputy foreign minister Galuzin Mikhail Yuryevich, and deputy minister of defence Alexander Fomin.
On Sunday, Mr Putin had proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine to be held on Thursday “without any preconditions” and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called on the Russian president to meet him in Istanbul.
Donald Trump will not go to Turkey to join the Russia-Ukraine talks either, a US official said after Mr Putin announced the Russian delegation. The US president said he was “thinking” of going to Turkey if Mr Putin would be there.
Mr Zelenskyy had said he would attend, but only if Mr Putin also attended.
“I am waiting to see who will arrive from Russia and then I will determine what steps Ukraine should take. The signals in the media so far are unconvincing,” he said in his nightly video address earlier.
He said Mr Putin “continues to strike Ukraine”, adding: “In fact, it is now more obvious to the entire world than at any other point during the full-scale war… that the only obstacle to establishing peace is the lack of a clear will from Russia to do so.”
The proposed meeting came after the “coalition of the willing” countries, including Britain, threatened Russia with fresh sanctions if it failed to take part in a 30-day ceasefire beginning on Monday.
Russia effectively rejected the proposal by instead calling for direct negotiations in Istanbul with Ukraine.
On Tuesday the Institute for the Study of War said Russia is “attempting to prolong negotiations to extract additional concessions from the United States and while making additional battlefield advances”.
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Canadians “weren’t impressed” by the decision of the UK government to offer Donald Trump an unprecedented second state visit to the UK, the country’s prime minister has told Sky News.
Sir Keir Starmer handed the invitation to the US president during a visit to the Oval Office.
The newly elected Liberal leader Mark Carney said that the invitation “cut across clear messages” that the Canadian government was trying to send to the White House in response to their threats against Canada’s sovereignty.
“I think, to be frank, they [Canadians] weren’t impressed by that gesture… given the circumstance. It was at a time when we were being quite clear about the issues around sovereignty.”
Explained: Who is Mark Carney?
Mark Carney speaking to Sky News’ Sam Washington
It comes as the Canadian prime minister has invited the King, who is Canada’s head of state, to open its parliament later this month in a “clear message of sovereignty”.
It is the first time the sovereign has carried out this function in nearly 50 years and Mr Carney says it’s “not coincidental”.
“All issues around Canada’s sovereignty have been accentuated by the president. So no, it’s not coincidental, but it is also a reaffirming moment for Canadians.”
The former Bank of England governor was re-elected after a campaign fought on the promise of standing up to American threats to Canadian statehood. He had refused to speak to Mr Trump until Canadian sovereignty was respected.
It followed Mr Trump threatening to make Canada the 51st state of the US.
Mr Carney justified making his first trip after winning re-election to the White House by stating Mr Trump had changed his intentions to annex Canada from an “expectation to a desire”.
“He was expressing a desire. He’d shifted from the expectation to a desire. He was also coming from a place where he recognised that that wasn’t going to happen.
“Does he still muse about it? Perhaps. Is it ever going to happen? No. Never.”
The high-stakes meeting in the Oval Office was not confrontational, with Mr Carney praising the president’s approach as “very on top of the essence of a wide range of issues” and “able to identify the points of maximum leverage, both in a specific situation but also in a geopolitical situation”.
A King’s tension between allies
Fractured geopolitical relations have produced an interesting phenomenon: two Commonwealth nations both deploying their head of state, King Charles, to manage the vagaries of Donald Trump.
For Canada, and its new prime minister, Mark Carney, the King is being unveiled at the opening of Parliament in Ottawa later this month as an unequivocal spectacle and symbol of sovereignty.
For the UK, Sir Keir Starmer is positioning the monarch as a bridge and has proffered a personal invitation from King Charles to the president for an unprecedented second state visit in order to facilitate negotiations over trade and tariffs.
This instrumentalisation of the crown, which ordinarily transcends politics, has created tension between the historically close allies.
Canadians view the UK’s red carpet treatment of a leader who is openly threatening their sovereignty as a violation of Commonwealth solidarity, while the British seem to have no compunction in engaging in high-level realpolitik.
The episode is emblematic of how pervasive disruptive American influence is and how extreme measures taken to combat it can aggravate even the most enduring alliances.
Since the meeting, tensions between the two countries have abated.
Further negotiations on trade and security are expected soon.
Given the deep economic integration of the two nations, neither side expects a deal imminently, but both sides concur that constructive talks have led to progress on an agreement.
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With greater goodwill between the two North American neighbours, Mr Carney also expressed optimism about Mr Trump’s efforts to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia.
The prime minister confirmed his view that the president was an “honest broker” and that his counterpart had been “helpful” in bringing momentum to a 30-day ceasefire between the warring nations.
Despite a reset in relations between the United States and Canada, Mr Carney remained circumspect.
His motto is: “Always plan for the worst.”
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And to that end, nothing is being taken for granted: “We do plan for having no deal, we do plan for trouble in the security relationship. We do plan for the global trading system not being reassembled: that’s the way to approach this president.”
World
‘Sixteen killed’ in strike on Gaza hospital as Israel says it hit ‘Hamas command centre below’
At least 16 people have been killed and 70 others were injured at a hospital in Gaza following an Israeli strike, according to the health ministry.
Nine missiles hit the European Hospital and its courtyard in the south of the Palestinian territory, officials said.
Israel said it had hit a “Hamas command centre” beneath the hospital in Khan Younis.
Hamas denies exploiting hospitals and civilian properties for military purposes.
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The scene after the European Hospital was partially damaged following Israeli airstrikes. Pic: Reuters
Earlier, a well-known Palestinian photojournalist died following a separate attack on the Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Younis, said the ministry.
Hassan Aslih had been accused by Israel of working with Hamas and was recovering from an earlier airstrike.
Aslih, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, was said by the Israelis to have recorded and uploaded footage of “looting, arson and murder” during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack into Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Aslih was one of two patients who died in Tuesday’s strike on Nasser Hospital, said the health ministry. Several others were wounded.
Mourners carry the body of Palestinian journalist Hassan Aslih. Pic: Reuters
Dozens of people were being treated on the third floor of the hospital building, where the missiles struck, Reuters said, quoting Ahmed Siyyam, a member of Gaza’s emergency services.
The Israeli military said it “eliminated significant Hamas terrorists” in Nasser Hospital, among them Aslih, who it said had “operated under the guise of a journalist”.
Footage showed heavy damage to one of the hospital buildings, including to medical equipment and beds inside.
At least 160 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the International Federation of Journalists.
Gazan officials accuse Israel of deliberately targeting journalists. Israel denies this and says it tries to avoid harm to civilians.
Aslih, who headed the Alam24 news outlet and had previously worked with Western news outlets, was recovering after being wounded last month in a deadly strike on a tent in the Nasser Hospital compound.
Read more:
Timeline: Key events of war in Gaza
Pope raises Gaza in Sunday message
Meanwhile, President Trump has spoken on the phone to Edan Alexander after he was released by Hamas on Monday, as part of ongoing efforts to achieve a permanent ceasefire with Israel.
The 21-year-old was believed to be the last living American hostage in Gaza.
Some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage in the 7 October attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s response has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and destroyed much of the coastal territory. Gaza’s health ministry records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
An aid blockade since March has left the population at critical risk of famine, according to the World Health Organisation, which warned on Tuesday that hunger and malnutrition could have a lasting impact on “an entire generation”.
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