Prices of premium non-basmati rice such as Sona Masoori, Ponni and Swarna are 10-25% higher than a year ago because of a smaller paddy area and deficient rainfall, especially in southern India, the Financial Express reports.

The average market price of Sona Masoori, widely eaten in the south, has risen 25% to Rs 58 a kilogram from Rs 44, while Swarna boiled rice, consumed in the east, is up about 10% to Rs 35, trade sources said. Overall retail rice prices are up 7% year on year at Rs 46.44 a kilogram, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs.

The kharif paddy area has fallen 3.7% to 42.92 million hectares, with the biggest drops in Karnataka (0.46 million hectares), Telangana (0.43), Andhra Pradesh (0.18) and Tamil Nadu (0.15), and southern India has had a monsoon rainfall deficit of nearly 26%. "Due to lower production prospects, prices have risen sharply," said B V Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association.

Suraj Agarwal of Rice Villa cited dam levels hit by the weak southern monsoon, floods in parts of Bihar and lower northern rainfall, and said rabi crop prospects will steer prices next. Basmati paddy arrivals have begun at about Rs 4,000 a quintal, 30% above last year, though Punjab exporter Ranjit Singh Jossan expects prices to ease when bulk arrivals come in early October.

Supplies remain ample overall: rice production reached a record 154.02 million tonnes in 2025-26, and the Food Corporation of India holds 39 million tonnes of rice against a buffer norm of 10.25 million tonnes for 1 October, excluding 20.6 million tonnes due from millers. The report was written by Sandip Das.

Photo: Sanjay Acharya / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Source: Financial Express Agriculture