Rice may finish in Australia by this Christmas

Australia is facing a rice shortage with the country predicted to run out of the domestically-grown product by Christmas.

SunRice chief executive Rob Gordon warned families would soon be forced to eat rice imported from Vietnam as local supplies continued to dwindle. 

'We are going to run out of Australian rice by Christmas,' he told The Daily Telegraph. 

'Our supply chains including Vietnam are a hedge against Australian shortages so we will still have rice products on the shelves but it will not be Australian rice.' 

Low rainfall, dry weather and COVID-19 panic buying have all been linked to the diminishing stock.