Structure and Conduct of the World Rice Market

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the world rice market through a Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) framework utilizing annual data from 1970 to 2007. Since World War Two, the world rice market has been very unstable, with rice prices experiencing volatile swings in both rice price and rice availability. Therefore, a SCP framework can provide crucial insight into the world rice market for policy makers. Also, this paper describes the effects of total production, export rice price, and real exchange rate for exporting countries on total export volume from an export supply model standpoint. On the basis of these results, it is evident that market power exists in the international rice market with respect to supply elasticity and an exporting country’s currency exchange rate greatly determines that country’s competitiveness as a net rice exporter relative to other rice producers.