ADB asks Asia to cut back rice trade barriers

Asia should cut rice trade barriers and stabilize prices, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Thursday, as concerns grow of a supply crunch similar to one that led to the 2008 global food crisis.

Asians, the world's top rice consumers and producers, bore the brunt as prices of the cereal spiked in 2007-08 due in part to export limits by producers and panic buying by big importers, the Manila-based bank said.