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Rice for July delivery rose 2.4% to $21.6 per one hundred pounds on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Cyclone Nargis, which has killed tens of thousands of people, struck areas where 65% of Burma's rice is grown.

The disaster came when food prices were already soaring, hitting much of Asia.

The cyclone hit the Irrawaddy delta and other key rice-growing areas in Burma.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the region had been due to export 600,000 tonnes of milled rice in 2008.

However, it said secondary crops, normally harvested from April to June, might have been damaged by the cyclone, while rice already harvested might have suffered from poor storage.

The FAO said "localised food shortages" were possible, while exports could also be hit.

A number of factors have been pushing up rice prices recently, including shortages due to poor harvests, as well as rising demand in some rice-importing nations where populations are expanding.

More recently, forecasts of further price rises have prompted hoarding, making matters worse.

(BBC)

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