BANGKOK, July 24: World rice prices have bottomed out and are expected to make a slight recovery this year, but improved production outlooks and India’s subsidised exports could conspire to keep prices down, commodity experts said on Wednesday.

Prices have started to recover lately, thanks in part to Thailand’s policy of buying from farmers, Concepcion Calpe, senior commodity specialist for the Food and Agriculture Organization, told AFP.

But there is still a lot of uncertainty, she said on the sidelines of the International Rice Commission taking place in Bangkok.

Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter, shipped a record 7.52 million tons of rice in 2001, but its government this year has intensified a procurement programme under which it buys rice from local farmers at levels higher than market rates.—AFP