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TOP Contents - Tailored for YOU Latest News Headlines

USDA estimates more broken records for rice Palay, corn production in NorMin post growths in Q3 Vietnam hopes TPP will bring more rice orders from the US TDRI proposes disposal of rotten pledged rice BAAC union proposes end to rice scheme Minister promises to resolve levy rice issue. Karnataka State Rice Mill Owners' Association call off three-day strike Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open-Dec 18 Kittiratt offers apology, says rice farmer payments coming soon

NEWS DETAILS:
USDA estimates more broken records for rice
U.S. and global rice producers broke a number of records during the 2013-14 marketing year, and there could be more of the same for next year, according to Nathan Childs, senior rice market analyst, USDAs Economic Research Service, speaking at the USA Rice Outlook Conference in St. Louis, Mo.Global rice production is projected as a record in 2013-14, according to Childs, at about 473 million tons. Cambodia, Thailand, Egypt, Burma and Indonesia all produced bigger crops, while Australia, China and the United States produced smaller crops.India meanwhile, has been having weather problems in its eastern regions, and its production estimate is likely to be taken lower.Childs update on the rice situation was given several days prior to USDAs Dec. 10 estimates on crop production and supply and demandCambodia, Thailand and Vietnam produced record or nearrecord crops in 2013-14, most on acreage expansion, which was driven by high support prices, noted Childs. Yield is slightly down. With that many countries doing so well, its no surprise that global supplies are the highest on record, Childs said. Thats the ninth consecutive year of larger global supplies.Global consumption is also at a record high, about equal to production. Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Southeast Asia

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and West Africa are mostly responsible for the increase. Stocks building again Global ending stocks are up a little bit, but we have had seven consecutive years of increasing global ending stocks, Childs said. The global stocks-to-use ratio, however, is still at a comfortable 20 percent. That is not high. The huge stocks that hung over the market at the turn of the century no longer exist, but we are building stocks again.Estimated U.S. rice stocks are down slightly, while Thailand has record stocks of about 15.5 million tons. Thailand accounts for most of the increase in global stocks. They have more than a 100 percent stocks-to-use ratio.Childs expects a near-record 39 million tons in rice trade in 2013-14, on abundant exportable supplies and falling prices. Brazil, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam have all increased exports. We have weaker shipments from India and the United States. Childs expects record imports in West Africa and China, and thats one reason why trade has been so high the last few years.The U.S. rice price difference over Thailand, at $160 a ton, is the largest on record, noted Childs. Its unlikely for that to be sustainable. More of the same for 2014? For 2014-15, Childs sees little change in global rice area, slightly higher average yield, another record

crop and record total use. We expect lower trading prices and greater trade. Top importers include west Africa, China and the Middle East.In 2013-14, U.S. rice production declined about five percent from the previous year due to smaller area. But many states had record yields. Acreage, the smallest since 1987-88, was due to better revenue in competing crops, unfavorable conditions at planting and water restrictions in Texas.U.S. rice yields were a record in 2013, noted Childs, for long grain and medium and short grain. Most southern states had near records. Louisiana had a record yield. Texas yield, at 8,400 pounds (with a ratoon crop) was the largest ever for a southern crop. Missouri produced a near-record crop, while California yields were solid. The higher yields were due to the adoption of hybrid seeds in much of the Mid-South and favorable weather during the season.U.S. production declined due to lower acres with two states, Arkansas and Missouri, accounting for all of it. All of the decline was in long grain. Mediumand short-grain acreage increased. Domestic use down Domestic rice use is down about 4 percent, according to Childs. Its been lower the last few years, but were not sure why. We expect exports to drop about 7 percent on a smaller crop, and the fact that were not very price competitive. We expect the decline to come from Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. The medium grain market is more stable.Long-grain exports are down about 11

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percent, all in the milled category. Were not as price competitive. Were starting to see some competition from Asia in the Western Hemisphere. With a $160 premium, that would be expected.U.S. ending stocks are declining, and are down about 15 percent this year, according to Childs. Its not a dangerous stocks-to-use ratio. Its still comfortable, but they are dropping.Smaller supplies are the primary driver in the U.S. farm price outlook for rice, according to Childs. Despite larger supplies, we do expect a slightly higher rice price in 2013-14. More acres in United States in 2014 For 2014-15 in the United States, Childs projects a big increase in long-grain area, mostly in the Delta. We see little change in medium- and shortgrain. We see another record yield for both classes of rice. In the South, this is driven by the hybrids.Childs projects that domestic use and U.S. exports will recover in 2014-15, on a larger crop and a larger residual. We see expanded trade mostly in the Western Hemisphere. We see a big increase in long-grain exports, larger supplies, lower prices, another year of record global trade and a small increase in ending stocks. For medium- and short grain, we see lower global trading prices, but a steady market.

Palay, corn production in NorMin post growths in Q3

BY: APIPA P. BAGUMBARAN Thursday 19th of December 2013 CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Dec. 19 (PIA) Palay production in Northern Mindanao posted improvement in the third quarter of 2013 as it grew by 19 percent compared to the production in the same quarter in 2012.Total palay produced in the region increased from 151,278 metric tons last year to 180,481 metric tons this year with both irrigated and rainfed palay posting growths, Engr. Cecilio Y. Clarete, chief economic development specialist of the Development Research Division of National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in the region said in a media forum held recently at the NEDA Conference Room. He said the positive performance was attributable to the good production in the provinces of Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte and Misamis Occidental. The 79 percent production increase in Lanao del Norte was due to sufficient rainfall which benefited the provinces rainfed/upland production areas as well as to the movement of harvest to the third quarter, Clarete said. He further said that the completion of the repair of irrigation canals also contributed to the 35 percent increase palay production in Misamis Occidental in addition to the early plantings harvested during the quarter and more rainfed/upland areas cultivated in Bonifacio, Tangub and Ozamiz City.Clarete said the regions average yield also improved by 4.74 percent from 4.59 to 4.78 tons per hectare in irrigated areas and 3.15 to 3.26 tons per hectare in rainfed areas.Yield improvement was most notable in Camiguin, Lanao del Norte and Misamis Occidental.

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Clarete said the positive yield was due to sufficient irrigation water, lesser occurrence of infestation of diseases and pests, and use of high yielding variety of seeds.Lanao del Norte also benefited from the rice rattooning especially in areas covered by the National Irrigation Administration and communal irrigation system, he added.Overall, the total value of palay for the third quarter amounted to P3.072 billion, up by 24 percent, as a result of the increased production volume and rise in the average farm gate price from P16.36 to P17.02 per kilogram.Meanwhile, corn production in the region went up by 13 percent reaching 508,581 metric tons in the third quarter of 2013. Increases were more pronounced in Bukidnon and Camiguin for both white and yellow corn varieties.The 200 percent increase in yellow corn production in Lanao del Norte was due to the shifting by some farmers from white corn to yellow corn.Clarete said the average corn yield also grew by 5.52 percent with Lanao del Norte posting the lowest increase in yield by only 0.63 percent due to the hot weather condition during the reproductive stage in some municipalities of the province.Although some corn farmers in Misamis Occidental shifted to commercial and cash crops, and those in Misamis Oriental to pineapple, palm oil, passion fruit and tobacco, Clarete said both provinces still managed a positive yield due to sufficient rainwater, less prevalence of pests and diseases and favourable weather, and increase usage of RR seeds. (APB/PIA-10)

increase sharply once the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is inked.A report by the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) showed that the rice exports to America in the first 11 months of the year accounted for 7.02 percent of the total exports. The sharp increase of 37.66 percent in exports over the same period of the last year has been explained by the increased demand from non-Cuba markets, including the US, Haiti, Mexico and Chile.In the past, Cuba was the major American export market for Vietnamese rice exporters, who provide rice under the contracts signed by the governments. VFA believes that Vietnamese businesses can develop the American market with their competitive export prices. specially, it can see the opportunities to boost exports to the US once both the US and Vietnam become the members of TPP.Besides the US, the other four countries in America, including Canada, Chile, Peru and Mexico are also negotiating for TPP.Explaining the above said high growth rate, the director of a rice export company said Vietnams rice has become well competitive with Thai rice, which once dominated the market.According to the businessman, Mexico, Brazil and the US need high quality 5 percent broken rice with higher requirements than some Asian and African markets in terms of the quality and packaging.Duong Ngoc Minh, President of Hung Vuong Seafood Company, a farm produce supplier to the Asian peoples markets and

Vietnam hopes TPP will bring more rice orders from the US
VietNamNet Bridge The rice exports to the US now only account for 10 percent of Vietnams total rice exports. However, the figure is believed to

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supermarkets in the US, noted that the restaurants in the US now favor white rice from Vietnam instead of Thai rice because Vietnams rice is suitable to different ways of cooking.According to Minh, the retail price the restaurants have to pay for high quality white rice is about $1,000 per ton. Meanwhile, Vietnams five percent broken rice has been exported at $420 per ton only.Not only the US, but Japan is also believed to become a big client for Vietnam once the TPP is signed, despite the warnings that Japan would keep high protection over its agriculture production.VFA has officially requested the government to prepare to penetrate the US and Japanese markets once TPP negotiations finish.The association has estimated that the rice exports in 2013 would drop to the 3-year deepest low. The export amount decreases by 1.12 million tons in comparison with 2012, while the average export price decreases by 14.53 percent.The sharp decreases in both the export quantity and export turnover have been attributed to the weak demand from loyal markets in South East Asia in the second half of the year. There is no demand from Indonesia, while the orders from the Philippines and Malaysia have decreased sharply.However, VFA said Vietnam still can sell out all of its merchandise rice in 2013 because of the rising demand from China. It is estimated that 1.5 million tons has been exported to China so far this year.In December, it exported 500,000 tons of rice, raising the total export volume in 2013 to 6.6 million tons, far below the targeted 7.5 million tons.
Mai Chi

BANGKOK, 17 December 2013 The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has proposed that a new government issue a law requiring warehouse owners to burn rotten pledged rice found in their silos, in order to prevent corruption in the scheme. The TDRI also pointed out the upcoming government can discard the rice pledging program, but the process must be done gradually, otherwise rice prices would drop sharply. Mr. Nipon Puapongsakorn, a TDRI honorary member, made the comments at a recent seminar on 'Future of Thai rice in the Global Arena', organized by the Thai Rice Foundation under the Royal Patronage.He stated that the new government needs to urgently examine the amount of stockpiled rice, saying without the exact figure of rice in store, the country would have to unnecessarily spend higher amount of money on maintenance and face depressed prices for the whole stock. He also said that the lack of reliable pledged rice inspections would likely attract corruption.Thus, he advised the government to check the stockpiled rice both in lists and in silos, to ensure the accuracy of the data which would be used to formulate an efficient rice clearance plan.

BAAC union proposes end to rice scheme

December 18, 2013 2:10 pm

Tags:TPP,rice export,

TDRI proposes disposal of rotten pledged rice

Wednesday, 18 December 2013By NNT

Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives' labour union Wednesday hosted a press conference, saying the bank now has only Bt12 billion cash to cover the rice-pledging scheme.The union said that the amount would be sufficient to cover the pledging until the end of this month. It also urged for the abolition of the scheme and proposed rice mortgages. Some farmers may be enlisted for rice pledging. It said that this would

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lower the rice price, to be more in line with market prices.

Minister promises to resolve levy rice issue.

MYSORE : In an effort to control the damage, cooperation minister H S Mahadev Prasad on Wednesday warned the whole sale rice sellers and mill owners not to exploit the present situation to make more money and said government will initiate stringent action against the black marketers and hoarders.At an urgently summoned meeting this morning, minister urged the rice mill owners and whole sale dealers to file their stock details by Thursday morning."Otherwise we will be forced to take action," he added urging rice sellers not to create any artificial scarcity of the commodity and fleece the consumers.Minister told the millers and dealers that government does not want to make the farmers and consumers to suffer and with this intention it has increased and imposed the levy rice quota. At the same time, government does not want its much publicized "Anna Bhagya" (free rice scheme) to suffer, he added.Minister said the mill owners are demanding the government to reduce the levy quota and fix it on the basis of average three months mill production and not on a month's average. They are also demanding the government to provide more rate for the levy rice bought from mills. Minister said the government levied 1.5 lakh tons of rice every year and it collected only one-third of it. Now, with the implementation of Anna Bhagya scheme, the government is forced to hike the levy quota from 1.5 lakh tons to 13.5 lakh tons, he pointed out disclosing that he will apprise the minister and chief minister about the mill owners' predicament as majority of the mills which produce coarse rice are from Mysore region.

Minister said he is optimistic of resolving the issue as he very well knew the millers and governments predicament and problems. He also urged the rice sellers desist from buying rice from the BPL families supplied to them by the government under Anna Bhagya scheme.Mill owners airing their grievances said the Mysore region accounted for 25 per cent of the rice against North Karnataka's 75 per cent production , but due to non-imposition of levy on North Karnataka millers following their producing fine quality rice they are out of its ambit . This discriminatory approach should be rectified they said. Mill owners said it is not only the consumers, even 3,000-4,000 workers working in these mills will be rendered jobless if the mills are closed as millers does not want to lose money, they complained.

Food and civil supplies deputy director Rameshwarappa said that at present there is no reason to worry on the consumers' front as the stocks will last for another six-seven days. "I have suggested the dealers to get rice from neighboring states," he disclosed, pointing at the decline in the flow of rice to open market in Mysore and other towns in the district . In reply to a question from a reporter, Minister said there is a provision in the law to impose levy and if the millers are not satisfied let them question the levy collection in the court of law. "Government has powers to collect and impose levy on millers," he claimed and said governments in the past have imposed levy.

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Karnataka State Rice Mill Owners' Association call off three-day strike
Naheed Ataulla,TNN | Dec 18, 2013, 09.09 PM ISTBANGALORE:

condition on NCDEX and fresh fall in Madhya Pradesh gram prices also affected sentiment, according to sources. * * * *

The Karnataka State Rice Mill Owners' Association's three-day strike has been called off with the state government agreeing to their demand to reduce the levy rice quota from five lakh tonne to 2.5 lakh tonne annually. The 1,800 rice mills, which had shutdown from Monday, will resume functioning from Thursday. Continuation of the strike would have impacted the price and availability of rice in the open market. Association general secretary H Srinivasa Rao saidministers Dinesh Gundu Rao, HS Mahadeva Prasad, TB Jayachandra and Shamnur Shivashankarappa held two-hour discussions with the rice millers on Wednesday before an agreement was reached. Of the 2.5 lakh tonne levy rice to be given to the government for the Anna Bhagya scheme, the millers have been permitted to give 1.5 lakh tonne by March 31, 2014 and the balance one lakh tonne by September end. The rice mill owners wanted the government to relook at the restrictions that millers cannot stock more than 5,000 tonne of paddy beyond 30 days. This had been now increased to 60 days with an assurance to increase it to 90 days in future. However, there is no change in the government's minimum support price of Rs 2,400 per quintal for buying the levy rice.

FOODGRAINS & PULSES GRAM * Gram varieties ruled steady in open market on subdued demand from local traders. TUAR * Tuar gavarani recovered in open market on good demand from local traders amid weak supply from producing belts. * Batri dal and Udid dal black moved down in open market in absence of buyers amid increased supply from producing regions. * In Akola, Tuar - 4,300-4,450, Tuar dal - 6,7006,700, Udid at 4,800-5,100, Udid Mogar (clean) - 5,700-6,000, Moong 7,000-7,300, Moong Mogar (clean) 7,900-8,100, Gram - 2,800-3,000, Gram Super best bold - 4,000-4,200 for 100 kg. * Major wheat varieties reported higher in open market on renewed demand from local traders amid tight supply from producing regions like Punjab and Haryana. * 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 Previous close Available prices

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open-Dec 18

Wed Dec 18, 2013 3:02pm IST

Nagpur, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Gram prices in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and Marketing Committee (APMC) showed weak tendency on lack of demand from local traders amid poor quality arrival. Easy

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Gram Auction 2,550-2,690 2,5502,720 Gram Pink Auction n.a. 2,1002,600 Tuar Auction n.a. 3,800-4,050 Moong Auction n.a. 4,4004,600 Udid Auction n.a. 4,300-4,500 Masoor Auction n.a. 2,6002,800 Gram Super Best Bold 4,000-4,400 4,000-4,400 Gram Super Best n.a. Gram Medium Best 3,700-3,900 3,700-3,900 Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a. Gram Mill Quality 3,250-3,350 3,250-3,350 Desi gram Raw 2,900-3,000 2,900-3,000 Gram Filter Yellow n.a. n.a. Gram Kabuli 7,700-10,000 7,70010,000 Gram Pink 7,700-8,100 7,7008,100 Tuar Fataka Best 6,700-6,900 6,7006,900 Tuar Fataka Medium 6,200-6,400 6,200-6,400 Tuar Dal Best Phod 6,000-6,200 6,000-6,200 Tuar Dal Medium phod 5,600-5,800 5,600-5,800 Tuar Gavarani 4,150-4,300 4,1004,250 Tuar Karnataka 4,400-4,500 4,4004,500 Tuar Black 7,000-7,100 7,0007,100 Masoor dal best 5,400-5,500 5,4005,500

Masoor dal medium 5,100-5,200 5,100-5,200 Masoor n.a. n.a. Moong Mogar bold 8,400-8,600 8,400-8,600 Moong Mogar Medium best 7,800-8,000 7,800-8,000 Moong dal super best 7,200-7,600 7,200-7,600 Moong dal Chilka 6,800-7,000 6,7006,900 Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a. Moong Chamki best 6,000-6,800 6,000-6,800 Udid Mogar Super best (100 INR/KG) 6,5006,800 6,500-6,800 Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,8006,000 5,800-6,000 Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 4,600-4,800 4,800-5,000 Batri dal (100 INR/KG) 3,800-4,000 3,800-4,200 Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 3,000-3,100 3,000-3,100 Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,300 3,200-3,300 Watana White (100 INR/KG) 3,100-3,200 3,100-3,200 Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 4,500-4,850 4,500-4,850 Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 1,750-1,850 1,700-1,800 Wheat Mill quality(100 INR/KG) 1,700-1,750 1,700-1,750 Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 1,700-1,900 1,700-1,900 Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,0002,500 2,000-2,450 Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 1,9502,100 1,950-2,050 Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.

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MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,600 3,100-3,600 MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,7002,900 2,600-2,900 Wheat 147 (100 INR/KG) 1,550-1,650 1,500-1,600 Wheat Best (100 INR/KG) 1,600-1,700 1,600-1,700 Rice BPT (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,400 3,200-3,400 Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG) 1,850-1,900 1,850-1,900 Rice Swarna Best (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,600 2,400-2,600 Rice Swarna Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,2002,400 2,200-2,400 Rice HMT (100 INR/KG) 4,300-4,500 4,300-4,500 Rice HMT Shriram (100 INR/KG) 4,800-5,200 4,800-5,200 Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 11,00013,500 11,000-13,500 Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 6,3007,600 6,300-7,600 Rice Chinnor (100 INR/KG) 5,500-5,800 5,500-5,800 Rice Chinnor Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,1005,300 5,100-5,300 Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 1,450-1,600 1,450-1,600 Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 1,750-1,850 1,750-1,850 WEATHER (NAGPUR) Maximum temp. 29.3 degree Celsius (84.5 degree Fahrenheit), minimum temp. 10.0 degree Celsius (50.0 degree Fahrenheit) Humidity: Highest - n.a., lowest - n.a. Rainfall : nil FORECAST: Mainly clear sky. Maximum and Minimum temperature likely to be around 30 and 10 degree

Celsius respectively. Note: n.a.--not available (For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but included in market prices.)

Kittiratt offers apology, says rice farmer payments coming soon

Published: 18 Dec 2013,Newspaper section: Business

Caretaker Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong says rice farmers will be paid for their pledged paddy within seven days, blaming the late payments on the ongoing anti-government protests. "The occupation of the Finance Ministry, the Budget Bureau and the Comptroller-General's Department by demonstrators for three weeks has delayed budget disbursement including payments to farmers in the rice pledging scheme," said Mr Kittiratt, also a caretaker deputy prime minister. He defended the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) over its lack of liquidity, saying the Budget Bureau and the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) failed during the period to transfer money to the bank.He said the situation is now back to normal, allowing the bank to pay the farmers within a week."I would like to apologise to the farmers for the tardiness," Mr Kittiratt said yesterday. Most farmers who pledged rice under the main crop are now crying foul over late payments. The BAAC has refused to use its own liquidity to advance money to farmers without the National Rice Policy

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Committee's approval to widen the 500-billion-baht limit on outstanding spending. While the government wanted to lower the outstanding spending incurred from the previous two harvest years to 500 billion baht at most, pledging for the current harvest estimated at 270 billion baht will cause combined spending to exceed the limit.The state-owned BAAC has requested approval to waive the restriction.Faster rice sales by the Commerce Ministry and new loans to the BAAC are two ways to speed up payments. But the situation is muddled by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's call for an early election, as regulations bar the caretaker government from using state financial resources before the election. The PDMO recently provided a credit guarantee to the BAAC's 75 billion baht in bonds to fund the rice pledging scheme, but only 37 billion baht has been

subscribed as investors fret over the political unrest.Rice pledging, a key populist policy of the Pheu Thai Party, has drawn sharp criticism over hefty losses and pledging prices 40-50% higher than market prices.Mr Kittiratt said the House dissolution means the government can buy paddy from farmers only in the main crop with spending of about 140 billion baht funded mainly by the BAAC's loans.Since the main crop began in October, some 5.5 million tonnes of paddy worth 90 billion baht has been pledged under the government's rice scheme. The main crop runs through the end of February.The BAAC has already paid more than 17 billion baht to farmers. Last week the bank said it had a mere 22 billion baht on hand until the end of 2013 to pay farmers who pledged rice for the current main crop.

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