Rice is, perhaps, the grain least likely to be affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, strength in prices across the grains and oilseeds index, because of the major role of both countries in the wheat market and that of Ukraine in sunflowers, has crossed over to rice, pushing prices up, although ample supplies have held back the increase.

A delegation of state ministers left for Delhi on Tuesday to meet Union ministers and officials at the Centre to demand 100 per cent procurement of boiled rice made out of paddy grown in Telangana in the rabi season, as was being done in Punjab.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to increase the country’s imports of milled rice from Cambodia and indicated its willingness to purchase other agricultural products from the Kingdom after a free trade agreement (FTA) came into force.

Indonesia’s agriculture minister, Syahrul Yasin Limpo, told a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday: * Indonesia set its 2023 production target for unhusked rice at 56.08 million tonnes

Thailand’s rice exports are expected to exceed 8 million tonnes this year, driven by the weakness of the baht and rising demand in the global market, according to veteran trader Chookiat Ophaswongse.

Vietnamese rice exports have been increasing significantly in the first months of 2022, signalling a favourable year for the country’s produce.

Rice is a staple food for more than half the world’s population and makes up 20% of the global calorific value intake. Most world cuisines include rice as a main ingredient and different regions grow different varieties of rice according to local cooking preferences and environmental circumstances.

The Adani Group has bought a closed rice-processing unit in East Burdwan, signalling that the Gujarat-headquartered industrial house led by chairman and managing director Gautam Adani is expanding its footprint in Bengal.

The menace of unlawful sand lifting continues to hit the residents hard of OPF Colony and other nearby areas of Larkana. Sand is being lifted through tractor-trolleys, heavy dumpers and even on donkeys but the relevant authorities have taken no notice of this issue which is constantly creating environmental pollution apart from infecting the people with ENT and asthma diseases.

Manoomin, or wild rice, is one of few grains native to North America, mostly found in the Great Lakes region and Midwestern states and is related to, but not quite the same as rice.