WORLD rice production will hit a record high this year but increasing demand and restrictions on exports will keep prices high, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation said yesterday.

Global prices of staple foods have risen more than 40 percent in the last year causing shortages, hoarding and riots in some developing countries. Rice prices have soared this year, and with world stocks at their lowest since the early 1980s, governments and importers have scrambled to stock up amid fears of shortages.