From scarcity to abundance to the panic of 2008, rice hawker Nguyen Thi My has seen it all from her roadside perch near the busy Hom market in central Hanoi. After falling from the highs of the food crisis, wheat and corn prices have rebounded strongly this year, but Ms My thinks it unlikely rice prices will follow.
“There is a good harvest and I think that prices may even start to fall,” she says.
This steady-as-it-goes view is shared by many traders, who believe record production and large stocks will keep a check on prices. But, with typhoons hitting paddy fields in the Philippines and bad weather hurting production in China, Indonesia and other key producers, the situation remains fragile.