India, the world’s leading rice exporter, has been faced with a partial breakdown in its logistics chain since the introduction of confinement on 25 March: limited transport, a workforce that is virtually absent from the rice mills, low staffing levels in the ports for loading onto ships, etc. As a result, Indian exporters have decided not to sign new rice export contracts until further notice. This tense situation will mechanically make it more difficult to supply the African continent - a net importer of the cereal - in the coming weeks, in addition to the recent announcement by Vietnam, the world’s third largest rice supplier, to introduce export quotas to preserve its stocks in the face of the coronavirus epidemic.