TOKYO -- India's decision last month to ban exports of rice sent shock waves through the Asian market for the staple food, inflating August prices by nearly 10% to a 15-year high, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's All Rice Price Index.
Asia produces and consumes 90% of the global supply of the grain, and the region's governments have braced for inflation and supply concerns in a trade already hit by extreme weather and fertilizer shortages. The Philippines imposed a cap on rice prices at the start of September and soon after said it might review rice import tariffs as rising costs for the carbohydrate disproportionately affect poor households.
