14th October , 2013
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S. Korea's rice production expected to grow 5.8 pct this year China agrees to buy more Thai rice every year China to buy more rice from Thailand: Yingluck China deal fails to cheer rice exporters P2B palay lost in ‘Santi’ onslaught — DA India bags another rice market Commerce Minister inspects rice pledging scheme in Chachoengsao Myanmar. MAPCO to export 200,000 tons of high-quality rice Bulk buyers keep away from rice market Rice formula on the back burner Call to revise paddy procurement price in Kerala Cyclone Phailin not to hit rice exports, local supplies: KV Thomas India becomes biggest rice supplier to Singapore Rice belt’s yield could reduce, cut 1% of India's output Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- October 12 TABLE-India Grain Prices-Delhi- october 12 Rising output, foreign sale of coarse rice Growing concern over food security expected to drive demand for Thai rice China Rice Output Expected to Slip This Year Record Thai Rice Hoard Expanding Global Supply Glut: Commodities Flooded farmers say government rice-pledging scheme is 'useless' Cofco agrees to purchase 1m tonnes of Thai rice
News Detail… S. Korea's rice production expected to grow 5.8 pct this year SEJONG, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's rice production is expected to grow this year from a year earlier, providing adequate amount to supply its needs, the government said Monday.The country's total rice output is expected to reach 4.24 million tons this year, up 5.8 percent from 2012, according to Statistics Korea.The government said the amount will be more than enough to meet the country's demand for rice."The forecast output of 4.24 million tons appears to be an adequate amount for a balance between supply and demand,
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considering that expected demand for rice stands at 4.19 million tons," the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a press release. The ministry said the total output was expected to grow despite a 1.9 percent drop in the total area for rice farming, as the average output is expected to grow 7.8 percent on-year to 510 kilograms per 10 acres.In 2014, each person is expected to consume 67.3 kilograms of rice, down 1.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the ministry.The country's per capita consumption of rice has been declining steadily since such data began to be compiled in 1972, when the average consumption stood at 134.5 kilograms per person.The government plans to purchase 370,000 tons of rice this year for government stockpile in part to protect the farmers by preventing the price of rice from plummeting. Apart from its own production, South Korea annually imports about 350,000 tons of rice under an agreement with the World Trade Organization signed in 2004.<All rights reserved by Yonhap News Agency>.Copyright Yonhap News Agency, 2013. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/yonhap-news-agency/131014/s-koreas-rice-productionexpected-grow-58-pct-year
China agrees to buy more Thai rice every year Published: 13 Oct 2013 at 18.18:Online news: Local News China has agreed to buy one million tonnes of Thai rice ―every year‖, an increase from the pledge made during the Chinese prime minister's visit over the next five years, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Sunday.The rice purchases would be made through government-to-government (G2G) contracts and would continue without a time frame, helping to ease the burden on the government and its burgeoning rice stocks.Beijing also agreed to buy 200,000 tonnes of rubber from Thailand annually. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in front of an Otop Centre in Chiang Mai on Sunday. (Photo from www.facebook.com/Y.Shinawatra) Ms Yingluck revealed the information at a press conference in Bangkok after returning from Chiang Mai where she led a visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to a Chinese language school and an Otop centre Sunday morning. After the visit, Mr Li ended his three-day visit and left Thailand for Vietnam at 11am. He is on his maiden trip to Southeast Asia since he took office in March.The new deal came only two days after Beijing signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to buy one million tonnes of Thai rice over the next five years directly from Thai traders, but not from government stocks. The premier said that during the tour in Chiang Mai she further discussed the rice issue with her Chinese counterpart and Mr Li agreed that Beijing should change from buying one million tonnes of Thai rice over the next five years to every year as Beijing saw the two countries had established a long and good relationship.
Regular trade of rice and rubber by the private sector was not included in Sunday‘s agreement, Ms Yingluck said.She instructed Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan to hold further talks with Chinese authorities over the issue, including seeking to pursuade Beijing to buy other produce from Thailand. ―The trade
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can start this year but we will see which month,â&#x20AC;&#x2013; Ms Yingluck said.At the press conference, reporters asked Ms Yinglkuck if she was worried after MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, a former deputy prime minister and finance minister, threatened to expose information in relation to corruption in the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s rice pledging scheme.She said the government was pleased to accept the information given by MR Pridiyathorn and would verify and clarify the issues.
China to buy more rice from Thailand: Yingluck October 13, 2013 6:46 pm
China has agreed to increase the amount of rice to be bought from Thailand over the next five years to 1 million tons a year, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said SundayLast Friday, when Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang began his three-day official visit here, China signed a memorandum of understanding with Thailand, agreeing to purchase 1 million tons of Thai rice over the next five years."However, China [Sunday] citing a good relationship with Thailand, has decided to buy more rice - 1 million tons a year. This will be a G-to-G dealing. Also, China will buy 200,000 tons to rubber a year. There will be other [agricultural] products that are subject to further discussion," Yingluck said.
China deal fails to cheer rice exporters Petchanet Pratruangkrai,:Khanittha Thepphajorn:The Nation October 15, 2013 1:00 am Million-tonne deal 'unrealistic'; Yanyong defends contract
Dark clouds hang over the outlook for Thailand's rice exports, despite the government's much-heralded success in securing future sales to China. .Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach yesterday reiterated the optimism that exports to China could exceed one million tonnes a year, but exporters remain doubtful, as China has never taken that much rice before. Ten years ago, imports hit two million tonnes, but that was when China suffered a serious drought," said an exporter who asked not to be named. According to Board of Trade tallies, Thailand sold only 143,082 tonnes to China last year, almost half of the 328,238 tonnes it sent there in 2009. The first eight months of this year have seen 110,742 tonnes going to China.Currently, China depends mainly on Vietnam and Pakistan to supply it with rice. In the past two months, ministers and government officials have produced various reports on rice sales to China, amid criticism that the rice-pledging scheme inflates the quotes for Thai rice and cripples the export market. Failure to find markets for the government's huge stockpiles, now over 10 million tonnes, means more losses for the scheme and greater risks to the country's fiscal position.The reports were produced again when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Thailand last week. He witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between COFFCO Corp - a Chinese state enterprise - and the Thai Rice Exporters Association. Charoen Laotamatas, vice president of the association, said the high price of Thai rice is attributable to low exports to China. But under the MoU, Thailand can deliver one million tonnes of rice to China over a five-year period under a 1-per-cent import duty, against 68 per cent normally. "Currently, the price of Thai rice is higher
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than that of its competitors, particularly Vietnam, which is a major supplier to China. The Thai government needs to take huge losses of more than US$200-$300 a tonne, if it would like to encourage more exports to China. "The current cost of 100-per-cent white rice under the pledging scheme is $700-$800 a tonne. China will buy more rice from Thailand if the price is competitive and quoted at about $400 a tonne, the same as Vietnamese or Myanmar rice," he said.According to the Foreign Trade Department's senior officials, Thailand has two contracts with China to supply about four million tonnes of rice from 2012-17. Besides the COFFCO deal, the government will soon sign a contract with China's Harbin government to supply 1.2 million tonnes of rice a year. Another deal emerged last week for the partial bartering of Thai farm goods - including rice - for a Chinese rail system. China is interested in supplying the system under Thailand's Bt2-trillion infrastructure investment plan. Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt will today discuss with Commerce Minister Niwut-thumrong Boonsongpaisan the details of the barter trade, which has prompted speculation that Thailand will award the Bangkok-Nong Khai high-speed train contract to China in exchange for stepping up rice exports.Chadchart yesterday noted that the barter trade agreement is open to all countries. He also insisted that details of the barter trade would be further studied. Details are expected next month.Addressing doubts that rice deals with China could eventually be executed, Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong insisted that China was highly capable of importing more rice as it had committed to the World Trade Organisation to import 5.6 million tonnes of rice a year under a 1-per-cent duty.China may not only procure Thai rice to feed its domestic market, but also to give to countries that are its friends in Africa as humanitarian assistance, so Thailand has a good chance of distributing more than one million tonnes of rice to China, Yanyong said. The one-million-tonne figure excludes a barter trade contract for which an MoU has already been signed, he said.China has high demand for rice, especially jasmine rice and 5-per-cent white rice. Surasak Riangkrul, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said the department is collecting information about total rice exports and contracts with China.Chief opposition whip Jurin Laksanawisit urged the government to disclose details of the rice contracts. He said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra should make public the contract with China so that society could be assured that she was not simply disseminating propaganda.In an interview on Blue Sky Channel satellite TV, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said he was puzzled by Yingluck's announcement of the rice deal on Sunday, instead of on Friday when the Chinese premier visited her at Government House.Abhisit said it was suspicious that the Thai prime minister, not the Chinese premier, made the announcement of the deal.Abhisit said he had learned that China would buy rice from Thailand's private sector, not from the government. Similar deals involving higher volumes of rice, have been cut in the past, he said.
P2B palay lost in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Santiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;onslaught â&#x20AC;&#x201D; DA By Ronnel W. Domingo:Philippine Daily Inquirer 6:45 pm | Monday, October 14th, 2013
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MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon ―Santi‖ rendered worthless at least some P2-billion worth of palay in Central Luzon alone, according to preliminary data from the Department of Agriculture.Agriculture Undersecretary Dante S. Delima said that as of Sunday, the DA monitoring found a total of 248,000 hectares of riceland damaged by the typhoon.In terms of palay farms, worst hit was Nueva Ecija with 160,000 hectares ravaged.In Tarlac, 50,000 hectares were damaged; 29,000 in Bulacan; 4,000 in Pampanga; 2,000 in Bataan; 1,500 in Aurora; and 9,000 in Zambales.Delima said the latest howler to hit the country gobbled up 133,000 metric tons (MT) of palay, which was equivalent to 15 percent of the total rice production in the region during the third quarter.Asked what impact such damage would have on fourth-quarter output, Delima – the official in charge of the government‘s national rice program – said his office was still validating this, including damage incurred in other regions such as Cagayan Valley.―We plan to have a comprehensive, final report by Friday, including our recommendations (for addressing the damage) to the Office of the Secretary,‖ he added.So far, the assessed value of palay crops lost to Santi was about four times the combined damage of at least P484 million resulting from Typhoons ―Labuyo‖ and ―Maring,‖ and the monsoon rains that they exacerbated, in August. Delima did not provide data related to corn crops, some P2.1 billion worth of which was lost to heavy rains in August.Just last week, Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala put the forecast on palay production for 2013 at 18.57 million MT, which would be equivalent to 12.07 million MT of milled rice.Alcala said that considering a beginning rice inventory of 2.52 million MT at the start of 2013, the forecast rice supply would total 14.84 million MT, ―which is more than enough to cover the demand of about 12.6 million MT.‖He added that the surplus of 2.24 million MT would serve as buffer stock calculated to cover 74 days of domestic demand.But the National Economic and Development Authority doubts the DA‘s claims on rice self-sufficiency, even suggesting to Malacañang the immediate importation of 500,000 MT of milled rice. But Alcala also said any decision on importation might not be made until early 2014.
India bags another rice market India has overtaken Thailand as the biggest rice supplier to Singapore for what is believed to be the first time, the Straits Times reported on Saturday.Published: 12/10/2013 at 02:20 PM:Newspaper section: breakingnews
Thailand has been the top source of the staple to Singapore since at least 1998, accounting for more than half of overall supplies between 1998 and 2011, the newspaper said.Last year, however, Thailand's share of the Singapore rice market fell to 35.3%.New figures from the government's trade promotion arm, International Enterprise Singapore, show that India was the top rice supplier from January to August this year at 92,865 tonnes, or 32.9% of the total.Thailand was second at 85,816 tonnes over the same period, or 30.4% of the total.Rice exports by Thailand have plunged since the government began its paddy pledging programme in late 2011, paying farmers 40% more than market prices.The country exported 10.7 million tonnes of rice in 2011, earning $6.4 billion. But last year Thailand fell behind India and Vietnam, shipping 7 million tonnes worth $4.8
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billion, according to data compiled by the Thai Rice Exporters Association.As of mid-September this year, rice exports for 2013 totalled 4.45 million tonnes, down 5% from a year earlier, worth just over $3 billion.
Commerce Minister inspects rice pledging scheme in Chachoengsao Date : 14
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CHACHOENGSAO, 14th October 2013 (NNT) - Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach traveled to Chachoengsao province to inspect the rice pledging scheme in the 2013/2014 season. Mr.Yanyong visited the â&#x20AC;&#x2022;Yeesip Paibul Pertpolâ&#x20AC;&#x2013; Mill in Bang Nam Priao district, after which he revealed that the Commerce Ministry has already established 50 rice pledging points, mainly in the central part of Thailand such as in Chai Nat, Ang Thong, Chachoengsao and Suphan Buri provinces. The amount of rice already entering the program is 50,000 tons. For the new season, the Commerce Ministry will emphasize on corruption prevention and making sure farmers get maximum benefits. He noted that the policy has changed from allowing an unlimited amount of rice into the program to only 350,000 baht per farmer. Mr.Yanyong stated that the Ministry of Commerce is paying great attention to rice storage at designated warehouses as well as handling procedures, in order to prevent the problem of rice decay as having experienced in previous seasons.
Myanmar. MAPCO to export 200,000 tons of high-quality rice 14.10.2013
The Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation (MAPCO) is expected to export 200,000 tons of high-quality rice in the 2013-14 fiscal year, according to company sources."We will export about 200,000 tons of rice in the fiscal year. This year we already exported 30,000 tons of that rice," said Dr Soe Tun from MAPCO.Win Myint, the minister of commerce said Myanmar is also starting to export rice to European markets under an advantageous EU Trade Scheme.Myanmar is also exporting 25-mark high quality rice to China and Africa. MAPCO exported 5,000 tons of high-quality rice to Japan for the first time in 45 years and is working to export more.Japan will also invite tenders from foreign suppliers to import rice to its market in October and the MAPCO said it will compete in the tender, Dr Soe added.The MAPCO is cooperating with Japan's Mitsui Company to export rice to Japan.
Bulk buyers keep away from rice market OUR CORRESPONDENT:KARNAL, OCT. 14:
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Paddy arrivals dropped to around 1 lakh bags on Monday compared with the levels witnessed last week.Arrivals have dropped mainly for PR varieties as most of the kharif crop has arrived in markets, said Tara Chand Sharma, proprietor of Tara Chand and Sons.The inflow is likely to remain sluggish while arrivals of pure basmati paddy are likely to start by month-end, he said.In the physical market, sluggish domestic demand coupled with arrivals of new rice pulled the prices down by nearly Rs 500 a quintal, said Amit Kumar, proprietor of Ginni Rice.Bulk buyers are still keeping out of the market as they are expecting prices to fall further. Rice market is likely to rule range-bound for a next few days, he added.Pusa-1121 (steam) dropped by Rs 400 to Rs 7,500-7,550 a quintal, while Pusa-1121 (sela) eased by Rs 300 to Rs 7,000-7,100. Pusa-1509 (sela) decreased by Rs 500 to Rs 6,000.Pure Basmati (Raw) quoted at Rs 11,000. Prices of Duplicate basmati (steam) decreased by Rs 400 to Rs 6,000-6,100.For the brokens of Pusa-1121, Dubar quoted at Rs 3,700, Tibar sold at Rs 4,400 while Mongra was at Rs 3,100.In the non-basmati section, Sharbati (Steam) sold at Rs 4,500 while Sharbati (Sela) quoted at Rs 4,200-4,250. Permal (raw) went down by Rs 100 and sold at Rs 2,250-2,300 while Permal (sela) dropped by Rs 50 and went for Rs 2,300 .Prices of PR-11 (sela) eased by Rs 150 and sold at Rs 2,750 while PR-11 (Raw) quoted at Rs 2,700-2,750 .PR14 (steam) sold at Rs 2,750 , Rs 100 down. PADDY ARRIVALS More than one lakh bags of different paddy varieties arrived at the Karnal grain market terminal.About 70,000 bags of PR paddy arrived and quoted at Rs 1,350 , around 10,000 bags of Pusa-1509 arrived and sold at Rs 3,250.2,000 bags of Sugandha at Rs 2,450, while 15,000 bags of Sharbati arrived and sold at Rs 2,300.Around 3,000 bags of Duplicate Basmati arrived and went for Rs 3,150 a quintal. (This article was published on October 14, 2013)
Keywords: Paddy arrivals, PR varieties, kharif crop, Tara Chand Sharma
India Cyclone Ruins 15% of Odisha Rice Area By Bibhudatta Pradhan, Shikhar Balwani & Pratik Parija - Oct 14, 2013 10:04 AM GMT+0500
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India carried out the largest evacuation in the nation‘s history, shifting one million people from the path of a cyclone that slammed into its eastern coast in a move that helped limit fatalities and highlighted the effective response of the government.At least 17 people were killed as Cyclone Phailin, Thai for ―sapphire,‖ made landfall Oct. 12 near Gopalpur in Odisha about 600 kilometers (373 miles) southwest of Kolkata. Heavy rains and winds as high as 210 kilometers an hour lashed the region, flooding roads and uprooting trees. Phailin is the strongest to hit Odisha since 1999, when a tropical storm with wind speeds of 260 kilometers per hour killed 9,000 people. Enlarge image A man cleans his house after overnight rains at the fishermen's colony in Gopalpur, India on October 13, 2013. Photographer: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via People look at a damaged pandal, a place of worship, in Gopalpur, India on October 13, 2013. Photographer: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via Getty Images An Indian woman walks past debris at the fishermen's colony in Gopalpur on October 13, 2013. Photographer: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via Getty Images
―We must congratulate the government on its handling of an extremely dangerous situation,‖ said Manish Choudhary, a director of the Indian Red Cross Society, who is based in New Delhi. ―The government has been much better prepared than in previous disasters and this has saved numerous lives.‖The state administration, which helped restrict casualties by facilitating the evacuation of people from their homes in low-lying coastal areas, faces the challenge of restoring power and opening roads to enable villagers to return, said Surya Narayan Patro, Odisha‘s minister for disaster management. About 15 percent of the state‘s rice planting area was destroyed, jeopardizing the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of farmers.
Restoring Normalcy ―The cyclone has damaged a lot,‖ Patro said in a phone interview. The challenge is to ―bring back normalcy. In many parts of the state, there‘s no electricity.‖Food relief is being provided to people who have taken shelter in public schools and buildings, he said. Television images showed electricity and telephone-line poles knocked out by the storm, and roofs ripped off shops and houses.The Odisha government‘s ―bold‖ decision to forcibly evacuate
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families from their homes was crucial to keeping the death toll down, said Devandra Tak, a spokesman for Save the Children.―Undoubtedly, the government‘s role in terms of disaster preparedness has been phenomenal,‖ Tak said by phone from Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha. ―The approach has paid rich dividends in reducing the loss of life.‖The government‘s response to the cyclone was much better than its reaction to flash floods in northern India four months ago, when more than 5,000 people were presumed dead, he said. That was the country‘s worst natural disaster since the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.
Accurate Predictions Changes in infrastructure, weather forecasting and emergency services probably mean the death toll from Phailin won‘t be high, according to Jeff Masters, founder of Weather Undergroundin Ann Arbor, Michigan. Twenty-six of the world‘s 35 deadliest tropical cyclones, the storms that include hurricanes and typhoons, have occurred in the Bay of Bengal, he said.―As scientists, we stuck to our scientific opinion,‖ L.S. Rathore, director-general of the India Meteorological Department, said in a briefing yesterday. ―Our predictions proved to be more or less accurate.‖ As much as 600,000 hectares of the state‘s rice area were affected, probably destroying an estimated 1 million tons of the grain, said Trilochan Mohapatra, director at Central Rice Research Institute based in Cuttack, Odisha.
Crop Contaminated ―The winter-sown crop may be affected because of inundation with saline water from the sea following the cyclone,‖ Mohapatra said. ―Most of the standing crop was going to be harvested in the next 15 or 20 days.‖India is the world‘s largest rice exporter. About 10 percent is produced in Odisha, said David Streit, a senior forecaster for Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland.The National Disaster Management Authority dispatched a 1,500-strong rescue force to Odisha and Andhra Pradesh states, while the government put the military on standby, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said. Airlines changed flight paths on the route between Mumbai and Bangkok, and between Bangkok and the Middle East, the Business Standard reported, citing an air traffic controller it didn‘t identify. India‘s railways also canceled or diverted some trains in the region, the Times Now television network reported.In Jayapur village, about 40 kilometers from Paradip in Odisha, several trees were uprooted, said Hare Krishna Barik, a supervisor at a construction company.
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‘Enough Rations’ ―We have purchased enough rations to last a week,‖ 57-year-old Barik said in a telephone interview. ―The two rivers near the village have swollen up.‖ Traffic on the state‘s highways toward the high-risk areas has been restricted by the government, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.―The worst is over,‖ Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, Odisha‘s chief of relief operations, said by phone. The cyclone affected about 8 million people in 15 districts, he said.An estimated 320 million people, or about a quarter of India‘s population, are vulnerable to cyclone-related hazards, according to the NDMA, which says the storms are four times more common in the Bay of Bengal east of the nation than in the Arabian Sea off its west coast. ―What is most important is that lots of lives may have been saved because they were evacuated,‖ Mohapatra said from Bhubaneswar. To contact the reporters on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi atbpradhan@bloomberg.net; Shikhar Balwani in Mumbai at sbalwani@bloomberg.net; Pratik Parija in New Delhi at pparija@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
Rice formula on the back burner
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APRice farmers: A proposal that could correct past mistakes and improve paddy production on a sustainable basis. A forgotten document on low cost, eco-friendly and community based approach to rice cultivation could hold the key for improving the grain’s yield across the country About three decades back, when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister‘s Office had asked India‘s senior most rice scientist Dr. R.H. Richharia to prepare a plan for improving rice production in the country. Dr. Richharia had earlier been the Director of the Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack. Braving poor health and advanced age, Dr. Richharia prepared an invaluable document titled ‗A Specific Plan of Action for Increase in Production of Rice‘, which still remains highly relevant. However, following the sudden death of Mrs. Gandhi, all interest in the plan appears to have been lost in subsequent years. Subsequently when Dr. Richharia expired, there was no one left to pursue the matter with the PMO and the government. This plan document needs to be revived as it offers a great potential for rice cultivation on a sustainable basis with the involvement of rice farmers. In fact, one of the outstanding features of Dr. Richharia‘s career was that he worked in close cooperation with farmers, including tribal farmers of remote villages in Bastar. His plan gives full credit to the wisdom of farmers and involves them in a bottom-up approach. This is very different from the centralised approach often seen in agricultural development and research in India.A basic feature of rice cultivation is that it is grown in very different conditions almost all-over India (conditions differ from field to field in a single village) and it is for this reason that over the years a great diversity of indigenous varieties have evolved, each variety being suitable for different conditions, with different qualities. Dr. Richharia‘s plan is based on respecting this basic feature of rice cultivation. In other words, his plan is based on the rich diversity of indigenous varieties. He wrote: ―If we were to think of a single characteristic feature of the rice crop which yields food for millions, it cannot be anything else unless it is its variability in the form of thousands of its cultivars, spread in India and in other rice growing belts of the world. This is because of the rice plant‘s flexible genetic make-up and mutational power to adoption. This means the concept of wider adaptability does not work in rice. Again, rice farmers usually stick to their own varieties, as they possess deep knowledge to harvest a crop even under the most stressful situations and they also possess high yielding varieties of their own which are generally not included in extension programmes, which is a major lapse.‖ For example, in a survey carried out in Madhya Pradesh during 1971-74, eight per cent of the indigenous rice types were observed to fall under the category of high yielding types, fixing the minimum limit of 3705 kg/Ha. Before outlining his plan, Dr. Richharia had identified some weaknesses of the existing official approach. He wrote, ―The main constraint has been the hurried introduction of the undesirable new rice material, the HYVs (dwarfs) on which we based our strategy, replacing even the reputed high yielding varieties of the locality, forgetting at the same time unexpected drought situations, under which the HYVs lowered the yields. In addition, under heavy fertilisation and irrigation, the HYVs proved susceptible to diseases and pests which cannot be controlled easily, thus again pointing towards reduction of yield.
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When the base is, in itself, weak (meaning the new rice material), a mansion built on it, must collapse. In planning, too, stress was not laid on improving the inexpensive local resources which matter in agriculture. The stress has been more on making Indian agriculture ‗factory-oriented‘. Organic and ecological farming with which the farmers are familiar and which they prefer, finds little place in our research and planning process after 1965…The agro-ecological balance has been disturbed in the environment in respect of the existing rice germplasm which has been built up in course of time for centuries by the natural process of breeding and selection by farmers.‖ To correct past mistakes and to improve rice production on sustainable basis, Dr. Richharia proposed a threepoint plan of action. It was suggested that rural adaptive rice centres (to be known as farmers‘ rice centres or Kisani Dhan Kendra) may be established, as many as possible, all over the country, with about one hectare of land for each centre.―The adaptive rice centres will be the custodians of all local rice cultivars in respective localities, assembled immediately, supplemented, if necessary, by the already available materials of the locality at different research centres. They will be maintained under their natural habitat to safeguard the future. They will be known as local treasuries of rice germplasm, a term suggested by Dr. Frankel of Australia. In course of time, those farmers' centres may be further expanded to embrace varieties of other crops of the surrounding locality with a similar programme, (also to serve as a local gene bank).‖ The functions of the centres would be: (a) to maintain the evolved rice genetic material for future studies and use, as it is practically impossible to retain it in its original form at a central place in India or abroad. It can be maintained in its original condition at its natural habitat only seeking help of the rice growers themselves, (b) to educate the young farmers to appreciate the value and importance of their own material, adding new ones as their hobby, (c) the rice growers in general stick to cultivate their own indigenous rice varieties. If the improved seeds of their own varieties by simple selection method (to be done by the trained worker and the nearby local research centres may also do) are offered to them, under their original names, they would gladly accept them. Indigenous seeds would be distributed from the centres in small quantities and the farmers would be explained how to multiply them rapidly by clonal propagation method which would be demonstrated to them at the centre. ―It may be asked, ―will the rice cultivators absorb and follow up these methods which apparently seem complex?‖ The answer is that during our extensive surveys of the rice regions of India, we observed that the rice farmers have been following more complicated systems to keep their rice culture vigorous and maintaining their thousands of rice varieties from times immemorial,‖ Dr. Richharia observed.The plan recommended by Dr. Richharia is highly eco-friendly as it emphases the existence of indigenous seed varieties which can give high production without any chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Keywords: Dr. R.H. Richharia, rice production in India, rice cultivation
Call to revise paddy procurement price in Kerala The executive committee meeting of the Desheeya Karshaka Samajam held in Palakkad on Saturday urged the State government to reconsider its decision to fix the procurement price of paddy at Rs.18 a kg.In a statement here on Saturday, Samajam general secretary Muthalamthode Mani said that the farmers in the State were
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disappointed at the government‘s decision to procure paddy at Rs.18 a kg, an increase of just one rupee from last year.―The farmers wanted a procurement price of Rs.30 a kg. Considering the high cost of cultivation, the procurement price fixed by the government was very low. The cost of seed, fertilizer, pesticide, and labour had gone up considerably. The area under paddy cultivation in the State had shrunk considerably as paddy farming has become non-remunerative,‖ the statement said.It said a higher price and procurement at the beginning of the harvest season would help farmers extend paddy farming to more areas. The government should immediately revise the procurement price, the statement said. Keywords: Paddy procurement in Kerala, Paddy procurement price, Kerala paddy cultivation, Desheeya Karshaka Samajam Post Comment
Cyclone Phailin not to hit rice exports, local supplies: KV Thomas Reuters Oct 14, 2013, 01.21PM IST Tags:summer rice crop|stocks|rice production|Rice exports|Odisha|local supplies of rice|Food Minister KV Thomas|Cyclone Phailin
("How can it be? Our production…) NEW DELHI: A severe cyclone that hit India's eastern state of Odisha will not hit exports and local supplies of rice, Food Minister KV Thomas said on Monday."How can it be? Our production is so high. We have amplestocks and that shows India's strength," Thomas said responding to a query whether damage caused by cyclone Phailin would cut rice production in the areas it hit and impact supplies. India's summer rice crop is expected to be about 92 million tonnes this year, on a par with last year. Stocks in the country, one of the world's largest producers and exporters, were about 21 million tonnes on Sept. 1.A mass evacuation saved thousands of people from India's fiercest cyclone in 14 years, but aid workers warned a million would need help after their homes and livelihoods were destroyed.
India becomes biggest rice supplier to Singapore By IANS - SINGAPORE Published: 12th October 2013 03:17 PM:Last Updated: 12th October 2013 03:18 PM
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Trade statistics showed that India has overtaken Thailand as the biggest rice supplier to Singapore, a newspaper reported Saturday.Statistics from the International Enterprise Singapore showed that Singapore imported 92,865 tonnes, or 32.9 percent, of its total demand for rice from India between January and August, making India the top supplier, the Straits Times said.Thailand was second at 85,816 tonnes over the same period, or 30.4 percent of the total, Xinhua reported.Thailand had been the top source of the staple in Singapore since at least 1998, accounting for over half of overall supply between 1998 and 2011. Last year, this fell to 35.3 percent. The premium grade of Hom Mali rice, with brands such as Royal Umbrella and SongHe has been the long-time favourites in Singapore.There are several factors driving the shift in the supply patterns among major rice suppliers, industry players said."Importers (are) taking advantage of the lower prices of Indian rice compared to Thai rice," a spokesperson for the Trade and Industry ministry was quoted as saying.Since 2011, the Thai government has been buying rice from farmers at above-market rates, building a stockpile at home. This has reduced the amount of Thai rice available for export and resulted in higher prices of the staple, she said. Supplies from India and other countries such as Vietnam and Myanmar have grown as much as nine-fold since 2004.According to the Singapore General Rice Importers Association, the shift began when global rice prices began surging in 2008.Back then, massive floods in Thailand led to a supply shortage. Other rice-producing nations also curbed exports to ensure adequate domestic supply and importers here hastened to look for alternative sources. Importers say the changing palates of Singaporeans are also a factor. The influx of foreigners with different preferences may also be fuelling demand for non-Thai rice. Topseller, a major supplier here of rice to thousands of hawker stalls and restaurants, started buying rice from India last year while its supply from Vietnam has surged over the last few years.
Rice belt‘s yield could reduce, cut 1% of India's output Zia Haq, Hindustan Times New Delhi, October 13, 2013 First Published: 00:33 IST(13/10/2013) | Last Updated: 00:35 IST(13/10/2013)
Apart from potentially ruining lives and rural real estate of nearly 10 million people, cyclone Phailin will wreck a fertile rice-growing belt along India‘s eastern coast, where the main summer crop is at a ripening stage. The damage could shave off 1% of India‘s total rice output, according to one official‘s estimates.Andhra Pradesh and Odisha – two states to be most severely hit – contribute 12% and 7% to the country‘s total rice output. A dip in cereal output could further stoke India‘s food inflation, which rose a whopping 18% from a year ago in August , the latest month for which data are available. The four districts in Odisha – Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda and Puri – and Srikakulam in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, which are expected to bear the maximum brunt, are part of a prominent rice belt.Shortage of
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rice could impact availability to meet requirements for the National Food Security Law, which seeks to give one-third of the population cereals at a fraction of their market price.―The losses could be staggering. Such strong winds could flatten whole fields, or lodging in agricultural terminology. In Odisha we expect crop losses in at least eight districts. Rice output may go down by 1%,‖ T.K, Adhya, the head the Central Rice Research Institute, told HT.The barreling cyclone could destroy about a million hectares of rice fields in Odisha alone, Adhya said.
Going by average yields, one million hectare can roughly produce 2 million tonne of rice.Most rice farmers along the east coast tend to grow a long-duration sturdier rice variety, the result of naturally adapting to a region prone to extreme weather, said AN Rao a senior rice scientist associated with the International Rice Research Institute said. ―Yet, crops cannot withstand such intense winds,‖ he added.The cyclone will push high-salt sea water inwards, which could additionally damage crop health. Although the cyclone would lose strength in about 24 hours after landfall, rainy weather could expand to states such as West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand. ―This may result in higher losses,‖ Adhya said.
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- October 12 Sat Oct 12, 2013 2:20pm IST Nagpur, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Gram prices in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and Marketing Committee (APMC) showed weak tendency on lack of demand from local millers amid profit-taking selling by stockists at higher level. High moisture content arrival and easy condition on NCDEX also pulled down prices, according to sources.
*
*
*
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FOODGRAINS & PULSES GRAM * Gram varieties ruled steady in open market but demand was poor in weak trading activity.
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TUAR * Tuar Gavarani and tuar Karnataka firmed up in open market on renewed demand from local traders amid restricted supply from producing regions.
* Moong dal chilka reported higher in open market on good seasonal demand from local traders. Fresh enquiries from South-based traders also boosted prices.
* In Akola, Tuar - 4,100-4,300, Tuar dal - 6,300-6,500, Udid at 4,700-4,900, Udid Mogar (clean) - 5,500-5,800, Moong - 6,000-6,400, Moong Mogar (clean) 7,100-7,300, Gram - 2,800-3,000, Gram Super best bold - 4,000-4,200 for 100 kg.
* Wheat, rice and other commodities remained steady in open market in thin trading activity, according to sources.
Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg
FOODGRAINS Gram Auction
Available prices 2,520-2,920
Gram Pink Auction Tuar Auction
n.a. n.a.
Moong Auction Udid Auction
n.a.
Gram Medium Best
2,100-2,600
3,800-4,000 4,300-4,500
n.a.
Gram Super Best Bold Gram Super Best
2,550-3,090
3,500-3,975
n.a.
Masoor Auction
Previous close
2,600-2,800 4,300-4,500
4,300-4,500
n.a. 3,850-4,100
3,850-4,100
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Gram Dal Medium
n.a.
Gram Mill Quality
3,700-3,800
3,700-3,800
Desi gram Raw
3,100-3,200
3,150-3,250
Gram Filter Yellow
n.a.
n.a.
Gram Kabuli
n.a.
7,700-10,000
Gram Pink
7,600-8,000
Tuar Fataka Best
7,700-10,000 7,600-8,000
6,700-6,800
Tuar Fataka Medium
6,700-6,800
6,400-6,500
Tuar Dal Best Phod
6,400-6,500
6,000-6,100
Tuar Dal Medium phod
6,000-6,100
5,600-5,800
5,600-5,800
Tuar Gavarani
4,250-4,350
4,200-4,300
Tuar Karnataka
4,150-4,250
4,100-4,200
Tuar Black
7,000-7,100
Masoor dal best
5,400-5,500
Masoor dal medium Masoor
7,000-7,100 5,400-5,500
5,000-5,100 n.a.
n.a.
Moong Mogar bold
7,200-7,500
Moong Mogar Medium best Moong dal super best Moong dal Chilka
5,000-5,100
7,200-7,500
6,800-7,100
6,200-6,500
6,200-6,500
5,900-6,100
5,800-6,000
Moong Mill quality
n.a.
Moong Chamki best
6,200-6,800
n.a.
Udid Mogar Super best (100 INR/KG) Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) Batri dal (100 INR/KG) Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg)
6,800-7,100
6,200-6,800 5,800-6,000
5,000-5,500
4,800-5,000
3,700-3,800 2,800-2,900
5,800-6,000 5,000-5,500
4,800-5,000
3,700-3,800 2,800-2,900
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Watana Dal (100 INR/KG)
3,350-3,400
Watana White (100 INR/KG)
3,300-3,400
Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG)
3,300-3,400
7,800-8,000
1,600-1,700
Wheat Mill quality(100 INR/KG) Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG)
3,350-3,400
7,800-8,000
1,600-1,700
1,550-1,600
1,550-1,600
1,600-1,800
Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG)
1,850-2,300
Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG)
1,600-1,800 1,850-2,300
1,700-1,900
n.a.
n.a.
3,100-3,600
MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG)
1,700-1,900
3,100-3,600
2,600-2,900
2,600-2,900
Wheat 147 (100 INR/KG)
1,400-1,500
1,400-1,500
Wheat Best (100 INR/KG)
1,500-1,600
1,500-1,600
Rice BPT (100 INR/KG) Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG)
2,800-3,500 2,200-2,500
Rice Swarna Best (100 INR/KG)
2,200-2,500
2,300-2,400
Rice Swarna Medium (100 INR/KG) Rice HMT (100 INR/KG)
2,800-3,500
2,300-2,400
2,000-2,250
4,100-4,500
4,100-4,500
Rice HMT Shriram (100 INR/KG)
4,300-4,850
Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG)
10,000-12,500
Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) Rice Chinnor (100 INR/KG)
Rice Chinnor Medium (100 INR/KG) Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG)
4,300-4,850 10,000-12,500
6,200-7,500
4,900-5,400
1,800-1,900
6,200-7,500
4,900-5,400
4,300-4,700
1,500-1,650
2,000-2,250
4,300-4,700 1,500-1,650
1,800-1,900
WEATHER (NAGPUR)
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Maximum temp. 31.3 degree Celsius (88.3 degree Fahrenheit), minimum temp. 22.6 degree Celsius (72.7 degree Fahrenheit) Humidity: Highest - n.a., lowest - n.a. Rainfall : n.a. FORECAST: Generally cloudy sky. Maximum and Minimum temperature likely to be around 32 and 22 degree Celsius respectively.
Note: n.a.--not available (For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but included in market prices.)
TABLE-India Grain Prices-Delhi- October 12 Sat Oct 12, 2013 2:21pm IST TABLE-India Grain Prices - Delhi - Oct 12 Rates by Asian News International, New Delhi Tel: 011 2619 1464 Indicative Grains
Previous
opening
close
(in rupees per 100 kg unless stated) ---------------------------------------------------------Wheat Desi
2,250-2,550
2,250-2,550.
Wheat Dara
1,655-1,755
1,655-1,755.
Atta Chakki (per 10 Kg) Roller Mill (per bag) Maida (per bag)
210-235 1,715-1,870 1,850-1,950
210-235. 1,715-1,870. 1,850-1,950.
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Sooji (per bag)
1,820-1,920
Rice Basmati(Sri Lal Mahal) Rice Basmati(Lal Quila) Rice Basmati(Common) Rice Permal Rice Sela I.R.-8 Gram
1,810-1,910.
12,000
12,000.
11,000
11,000.
7,235-7,835
2,435-2,535 3,110-3,210 2,250-2,350 3,200-4,200
7,225-7,825.
2,425-2,525. 3,110-3,210. 2,250-2,350. 3,200-4,150.
Peas Green
3,250-3,350
3,250-3,350.
Peas White
2,600-2,700
2,600-2,700.
Bajra Jowar white
3,150-3,250 2,450-2,675
3,150-3,250. 2,450-2,675.
Maize
1,500-1,550
1,500-1,550.
Barley
1,320-1,450
1,320-1,450.
Guwar
3,310-3,710
3,310-3,710.
Source: Delhi grain market traders.
Rising output, foreign sale of coarse rice FROM INPAPERMAGZINE:Updated 2013-10-14 11:40:17
The output of the non-Basmati varieties of rice that had fallen by 30 per cent to 2.5 million tonnes in marketing year 2010-11 after the super floods in July-September 2010 has made a quick comeback. During 2013-14, combined production of Irri-6, Irri-9 and other non-Basmati varieties looks set to touch four-million-tonne mark, according to officials of Ministry of National Food Security and Research.â&#x20AC;&#x2022;This 1.5 million tonnes increase in production is a result of three years of favourable market conditions for coarse rice, the most notable being a rise in domestic prices,â&#x20AC;&#x2013; says a big
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rice grower based in Badin, Sindh. The bulk of coarse rice is grown in Sindh and southern Punjab and during the last three years, growers there have brought more lands under the crop, often at the cost of cotton or some minor crops.Larger production of coarse rice in the last three years has also pushed up its exports, rising from 2.56 million tonnes in FY11 to 2.68 million tonnes in FY12 and to 2.74 million tonnes in FY13. Rice exporters believe that during the current fiscal year exports of non-Basmati rice would finally return to its pre-super-floods level of 3.04 million tonnes achieved in FY10. In the first two months of July-August, the exports volume has already risen 70 per cent year-on-year to 370,000 tonnes. ―Exports of non-Basmati rice get into full swing from late October or beginning of November — a big increase before it is a sure sign we‘re going to see huge growth in export volumes in the full fiscal year,‖ says a Karachi-based exporter of non-Basmati. ―Big output last year had coincided with a moderate increase in exports in terms of volume. That had left huge carryover stocks. That‘s why you see exports rising even in July-August when normally rice export volumes are supposed to remain static or show a nominal rise.‖Rice exporters say that Irri-6 alone constitutes about two-third of total exports of non-Basmati rice adding that more than 100 countries buy Pakistani coarse rice of various quality and grades. Prominent among them are, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, Mauritius, Sudan, Turkey, Tanzania, Yemen and the GCC member states. For Basmati growers it‘s the per-unit price of output that matters most, but for non-Basmati growers volume is more important. In Sindh, growers who run short of cash to spend on cotton cultivation either get expensive loans from informal lenders or sell livestock. During the last three years big growers have started diversifying into cultivation of coarse rice as a hedge against a possible decline in cotton crop. As coarse rice sowing starts in March, when growers can well estimate their cotton output and thus calculate how much money they will make out of it, they have go for additional non-Basmati rice cultivation if they think this is a better option.An increase in prices, driven by export-led buying of coarse rice also serves as an incentive. In addition to larger buying for exports, lately coarse rice demand has increased in domestic market as well as food processing companies are mass-producing packed brand rice. Basmati rice cultivation has suffered in recent years due to various factors including shortage of water. Since non-Basmati varieties need lesser amount of water, this factor has also supported in their growth.―Besides, over the years, the country has been able to produce long-grain non-Basmati varieties that are in high demand in China and some African countries. The same is true for par-boiled rice with more nutritional value than simple grains,‖ says a former chairman of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan. He points out that one big incentive for producers of non-Basmati rice is immense demand in China adding that in the past one-and-a-half year more than a
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million tonnes of rice has been exported to Chinese markets. ―In Far East countries, where people prefer short-grain high gluten rice, some Pakistani exporters have successfully captured a big market share. Indonesia is an example.‖ Encouraged by demand for non-Basmati rice in foreign markets, researchers too have become more active in developing varieties that can be acceptable among foreign buyers. PSCIR, rice research institutes in Punjab and Sindh and even research wings at some agricultural universities are now focused on developing nonBasmati rice grains that are thick, long and aromatic. ―Future rice exports would probably be more centric on non-Basmati rather than Basmati because of two reasons,‖ says an official of Engro Foods. ―First, local consumption of Basmati is growing faster than we‘d thought earlier and secondly, perennial shortage of water, high cost of inputs and disturbances in high altitude regions where Basmati is grown, particularly in KP are discouraging farmers.‖ Another aspect of rice production and domestic marketing relates to springing up of hundreds of local super stores, on the lines of international chain of retail outlets. ―Now you find super stores operating not only in suburbs of Karachi like North Karachi and Malir but also in rural areas. They buy several varieties of nonBasmati rice, mix up one variety with another to develop a new grade, clean them and pack them in transparent plastic bags of one to five kg and sell at high prices,‖ says Farid Qureshi of Karachi Retail Grocers Group. The launching, in 2010, of a rice processing plant of Engro in Muridke, Punjab, and subsequent opening of a chain of fair price outlets of rice produced there has triggered healthy competition in rice retailing business.The said plant has the capacity to buy 150,000 tonnes of paddy from growers and produce up to 70,000 tonnes of Basmati. People associated with rice business say that a Karachi-based chain of super stores is currently exploring the possibility of setting up a similar plant in Sindh, as a joint venture with local or foreign investors, to process and sell non-Basmati rice varieties. —Mohiuddin Aazim
Growing concern over food security expected to drive demand for Thai rice PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI:THE NATION October 14, 2013 1:00 am AMID RISING concern over food security, many countries have shown strong interest in purchasing rice from Thailand to ensure adequate supply, Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach says.Such countries include China and nations in Asean, the Middle East and Africa, he said.Yanyong said many international trade negotiations had started to include food security on their agendas since climate change had affected many countries' agricultural production. Many countries are worried about a food crisis as prices have risen because of climate change. Thus they will stock or purchase more cereals to ensure their food security," Yanyong
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said.He noted that food security was discussed recently at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and at a meeting of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation. This resulted from lower output of cereal and grains in the past few months.Although like Thailand, India has large stockpiles of rice, that country has started to delay rice exports to secure its stocks for future consumption, he said. According to the Thai Foreign Trade Department, Vietnam has also been slowing its rice export in the past few months in anticipation of lower production in the 2013-14 harvests.As a result, Thailand should be able to sell more rice from its stock?piles, Yanyong stressed, adding that the Kingdom was negotiating with many countries for rice purchases next year.The ministry reports that Thailand has about 15 million tonnes of stored rice, of which 5 million tonnes already have contracts and are waiting for shipment.Besides government-to-government contracts, Thailand is releasing rice from its stockpiles by opening bidding to exporters and local traders, as well as through the futures market.However, the government is also concerned about lower rice output from the main 2013-14 harvest season, during which 10 million tonnes of rice is expected to enter the pledging programme. Yanyong said the volume of rice could be much lower than the target because some plantation areas had been damaged by floods.
Thailand may need to keep about 3 million to 4 million tonnes of rice as buffer stocks to ensure food security next year, the minister said.A rice-trader source said many countries in Asean including Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia were in talks with Thailand on purchasing rice from the stockpiles to increase their food security. Such demand has kept up the market price of rice. The Thai Rice Exporters Association reported that the price of 100-per-cent white rice had not changed in the past two weeks at US$462 a tonne, while the price of jasmine rice is $1,190 a tonne.
China Rice Output Expected to Slip This Year THE WALL STREET JOURNAL | on Mon, Oct 14, 12:06 PM
BEIJINGâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;A decadelong boom in China's rice production is likely to come to an end this year, according to a government forecast, as farmers reach production limits and Beijing shows signs of warming to cheaper imports. The China National Grain and Oils Information Center, a state grain-policy think tank, projected rice output may dip 0.7% to 202.8 million metric tonsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the first time since 2003 that China would harvest less than the year before. China, the world's largest consumer of rice, is al.. Read rest of article on http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304106704579135092406238018.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us
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Record Thai Rice Hoard Expanding Global Supply Glut: Commodities By Supunnabul Suwannakij - Oct 15, 2013 11:30 AM GMT+0500 Rice stockpiles in Thailand, once the world‘s biggest exporter, are expanding to a record as a government program to buy production spurs farmers to plant the most crops ever and add to a global glut.Reserves in Thailand will increase 24 percent to 15.5 million metric tons in 2013-2014 as global output rises 1.7 percent to an all-time high of 476.8 million tons, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. The price of 5-percent broken Thai white rice, an Asian benchmark, will drop 12 percent to $390 a ton by April, a five-year low, according to the median of eight trader and analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Thai rice prices fell 24 percent to $445 this year as the Standard & Poor‘s GSCI Agriculture Index of eight commodities slumped 16 percent, heading for its worst year since 2008. Photographer: Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg
A worker walks over a pile of harvested rice to be processed in the warehouse of the Sahakorn Kan Kasert rice mill in Suphan Buri, Thailand. Photographer: Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg Enlarge image A laborer pulls a cart loaded with rice and other food products at the Klong Thoei market in Bangkok. Photographer: Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg Thailand spent $21.6 billion since October 2011 buying at above-market prices to shore up growers‘ incomes, creating a stockpile large enough to meet annual demand from the eight biggest importers and still have grain to spare. The global supply of rice, a staple for half the world, is expanding just as farmers reap record amounts of everything from corn to wheat, driving global food costs to a three-year low.―I‘ve rented more land, expanding farms by more than double, to reap the benefit of good prices from selling paddy to the government,‖ said Uthai
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Thongsaensuk, a 45-year-old farmer in the northeastern Thai province of Udon Thani. ―My friends also boosted plantings as we earn more.‖ Farmers Protest
Thai rice prices fell 24 percent to $445 this year as the Standard & Poor‘s GSCI Agriculture Index (BUSY) of eight commodities slumped 17 percent, heading for its worst year since 2008. The MSCI All-Country World Index of equities rallied 14 percent and the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Bond Index lost 2.6 percent.Thailand will spend 270 billion baht ($8.6 billion) buying rice from the harvest that started this month, reversing an earlier plan to cut prices after farmers threatened to protest. The ruling Pheu Thai party won a majority in 2011 elections with support from poorer rural residents who make up 87 percent of the population. Thai output will gain 4.5 percent to 21.1 million tons in 2013-2014, the USDA says. Stockpiles in India, Vietnam, Thailand, the U.S. and Pakistan, the five largest shippers, will expand 6.8 percent to a record 42.6 million tons in 2013-2014, said Darren Cooper, a senior economist at the London-based International Grains Council. Global inventories will rise 4.8 percent to 183 million tons, expanding for a ninth year and lifting the stockpiles-to-usage ratio to the highest since at least 2002-2003, according to the United Nations‘ Food & Agriculture Organization in Rome. Largest Grower
Purchases by China, the largest grower and importer, may help curb the price slump. Heat waves earlier this year in China may cut domestic production and the International Grains Council is forecasting a 1.1 percent contraction in output to 141.4 million tons. Imports will rise 6.3 percent to 3.4 million tons in 2013-2014, USDA data show.The harvest in Vietnam, the second-largest shipper, may decline next year for the first time in more than a decade as the government encourages farmers to switch rice-growing areas to other crops. The policy will be approved by the government by the end of the year, Pham Dong Quang, deputy head of the cropproduction department, said in an interview last month. The nation shipped 7.4 million tons in 20122013.Production in the U.S., the fourth-biggest exporter, will contract 7.8 percent to 5.9 million tons after farmers sowed fewer acres, according to the IGC. Rough-rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade climbed 4.5 percent to $15.15 per 100 pounds since reaching an eight-month low in March.
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African Buyers Global imports will decline this year for the first time since 2009 because of weaker demand from some African and Asian buyers, the FAO says. World trade may contract 2.5 percent to 37.5 million tons, the agency said in August.Thailand‘s 30-year reign as the biggest exporter ended last year as shipments dropped 35 percent to 6.9 million tons, USDA data show. Grain from the country was more expensive than cargoes from Vietnam and India. The Thai government is under pressure to accelerate stockpile sales and push more supply onto the world market, said Chookiat Ophaswongse, the Bangkok-based honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association.The rice program heightens risks for Thailand achieving its goal of a balanced budget by 2017, Moody‘s Investors Service said in September. Spending on rice, funded by borrowing and guaranteed by the finance ministry, is equivalent to about 13 percent of the budget in the current fiscal year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Annual Imports The country‘s 15.5 million-ton stockpile would be sufficient to cover annual imports by China, Nigeria, Iran and the next five biggest buyers in 2013-2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from USDA estimates. China agreed to buy 1 million tons a year from Thailand under government-to-government purchases, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Oct. 13.Global food prices tracked by the FAO declined for a fifth month in September to the lowest level in three years on prospects for record global harvests. Cereal prices dropped 21 percent this year, beating declines in all other categories including oils, sugar, meats and dairy products, the group says. The global corn crop will climb by 11 percent to 956.5 million tons as the wheat harvest expands 8.2 percent to 708.9 million tons, the USDA forecasts. An estimated 842 million people suffer from chronic hunger, or about one in eight of the global population, the FAO and other UN agencies said in report this month. For the extreme poor, or those on less than $1.25 a day, rice accounts for nearly half of their spending on food and a fifth of total household expenditure, according to the Los Banos, Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute.―Poor countries that rely a lot on imports will be better off importing rice this year,‖ saidConcepcion Calpe, the FAO‘s senior economist who has tracked the market since 1998. ―The drop in price was long overdue, as the world stockpile has been growing steadily for several years and is now reaching unprecedented high levels.‖
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To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story: Supunnabul Suwannakij in Bangkok atssuwannakij@bloomberg.net; Diep Ngoc Pham in Hanoi at dpham5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
Flooded farmers say government rice-pledging scheme is 'useless' Published: 13 Oct 2013 :Newspaper section: News
Farmers in Chachoengsao hoping to make the most of the rice-pledging scheme have been hit with severe flooding.The government's rice-pledging scheme is pointless as vast agricultural areas have been flooded, leaving no agricultural produce for farmers to pledge," said Somnuek Chantharangkul, one of affected farmers in Chachoengsao's Khlong Khuean district. "Flood-affected rice farmers are eligible for a state compensation of some 1,000 rai per rai."Growers of other crops also receive the same rate. Now, costs of living are skyrocketing. Worse than this, our farmland is flooded. We will be left with nothing, only bones."Waist-high flooding has ravaged vast agricultural areas in Khlong Khuean district, including Somnuek's 20 rai coconut plantation in tambon Bang Talard. He feared that his maprao nam hom trees (coconut with fragrant juice) would die if the flooding continued.Atthapol Laohong, village head of Village Group 6 in Khlong Khuean district, said his 50-rai paddy fields which were due to be harvested on Oct 27 had been inundated as overflow from the Bang Pakong River flooded his farmland.In tambon Bang Talard alone, more than 1,000 rai of farmland had been damaged by flooding, the village head said.Under compensation criteria for farmers hit by floods this year, affected farmers will be paid 1,133 baht in compensation per rai and the size of the farmland is limited to 30 rai, Mr Atthapol said. As he owed 50 rai of paddy fields, he would be given only 30,000 baht."I invested more than 100,000 baht for rice farming this time, but will be entitled to a state compensation assistance of only 30,000 baht," Mr Atthapol said. "Regardless of the sizes of their paddy fields, most farmers suffer huge losses this year. We have to buy rice seedlings for up to 20,000 baht, 30,000-40,000 baht for fertilisers and other fuel costs."
Cofco agrees to purchase 1m tonnes of Thai rice Published: 12 Oct 2013Newspaper section: Business China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (Cofco), a Chinese state-owned food conglomerate, yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Thai rice exporters to buy 1 million tonnes of rice over five years.Korbsook Iamsuri, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association (TREA), said China intends to buy about 200,000 tonnes a year with a requirement that purchases must be new grains.The MoU has yet to stipulate the types of rice China wants to buy.
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Normally, China has bought Thai rice from the private sector through TREA members such as Asia Golden Rice Co, Thai Hua (2511) and Capital Cereals Co.Ms Korbsook insisted the purchase has nothing to do with the government's existing rice stocks and the recently announced deal to sell 1.2 million tonnes of rice to China."Nonetheless, we are glad Cofco at least shows an intention of buying rice from exporters," she said.Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the TREA, said the private sector is still wondering whether the rice Cofco wants to buy as stated in the MoU is the same amount that China has already bought annually from Thailand. China usually buys about 300,000 tonnes of Thai rice a year.Mr Chookiat said the MoU with China is unlikely to boost the price of Thai rice.Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach said the government is willing to allow Cofco and any foreign agencies inspect the quality of rice in the government's stocks to ensure their confidence.Contamination concerns have mounted recently after the Foundation for Consumers and its associates announced their own findings in July that 34 of 46 packed rice samples contained varying amounts of methyl bromide, an odourless, colourless gas used to fumigate rice.Surasak Riangkrul, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, yesterday said his department has set a target of shipping 8-10 million tonnes of rice next year compared with an estimated 8-9 million tonnes this year.Sales through government-to-government contracts will comprise up to 60% of next year's total, he said.
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