China’s imports of rice quadrupled in the first 10 months of this year, putting the world’s biggest rice consumer on track to import record levels this year as changing diets boost demand.
Newly released data from customs showed China had imported 1.98m tonnes of rice this year in October, compared with imports of 505,000 tonnes during the same period last year, a rise of nearly four times. The jump is even more pronounced in terms of net imports, which rose 11 times over the same period.
The surge in imports marks a big shift for China, the world’s biggest producer of rice. The country has been mostly self-sufficient in rice over the past two decades but became a net importer last year, and analysts say imports could continue to grow next year.