Economics
As Tons of Bug-Infested Rice Rots, El Nino Threatens More Damage
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A rice glut that sent prices slumping more than a year ago is shrinking, just as El Nino arrives to parch paddies across Asia.
Global inventories were already heading for an eight-year low, including stockpiles so spoiled that top exporter Thailand may sell most for industrial use. Now, the first dry-weather pattern since 2010 is threatening crops in the Philippines, Indonesia and India. At a time when world food costs are the lowest in more than five years, rice may surge more than 40 percent if monsoon-season rains falter, said Jack Scoville at Price Futures Group in Chicago.