Brazil's agriculture minister has played down any domestic rice shortage concerns in the country saying that there was plenty of rice available in the country despite the government's decision to halt sales of official rice stocks of around 1.6 million MT.

According to Brazil's Agricultural ministry, there is no ban on private rice exports in Brazil, but some government stocks of around 500,000 MT that were supposed to go to Africa have been placed on hold for the next six to eight months.