Rice futures inched above $10 per hundredweight, but remained close to the lowest since December 2016, amid the prospect of ample global supply driven by abundant harvests in major Asian exporters, particularly India and Indonesia. Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said early this year that India has surpassed China to become the largest rice producer in the world with a production of 150.18 million tonnes. In the meantime, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto declared that the country achieved rice self-sufficiency in 2025, with stocks exceeding 3 million tonnes, a record high. In the US, the Department of Agriculture recently announced it will disburse $12 billion in agricultural aid in 2026 under the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program (FBA), with rice farmers among those receiving the highest per-acre payments. The measure could help boost rice production by supporting investments in crops and encouraging expanded planting.