Governments across Asia were rushing to secure rice stocks on Friday in the wake of a 30 per cent price jump in international markets.

Vietnam said it would reduce rice exports this year to 3.5m tons, from a projection of between 4m and 4.5m tons. India raised its minimum export price to $1,000 (€635, £500) per ton, up from $650 per ton, in a bid to keep domestic prices low.