Rice

The demand for Vietnam 5% broken rice, has been rising, hitting US$390 per tonne in the early days of June, against US$360 per tonne to US$380 per tonne in late May. This is the highest price since December 2014. A tonne of 5% broken rice in the domestic market stood between VND7.65 million (US$340) and VND7.75 million in early June, up VND550,000 (US$24) per tonne against last month.

Bangladesh buy 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice at $470 per tonne and another 200,000 tonnes of white rice at $430 per tonne.

Myanmar exported over 180,000 tonnes of rice worth over US$59 million in May, including over 72,000 tonnes of rice worth over $21 million. The country exported 39,115 tonnes of white and parboiled rice worth $11 million from May 28 to June 3 via sea routes: 6,430 tonnes of Emata rice to Bangladesh, 450 tonnes of parboiled rice and 150 tonnes of Emata rice to Russia, 625 tonnes of Emata rice to Madagascar, 250 tonnes of Emata rice to Andorra, 1,000 tonnes of Emata rice to Togo, 7,548 tonnes of Emata rice to Singapore, 20,000 tonnes of Emata rice to Côte d’Ivoire, 2,564 tonnes of Emata rice and 50 tonnes of parboiled rice to EU countries, and 48 tonnes of Emata rice to Sri Lanka.

India has signed a seed policy agreement which aims to speed up distribution of modern rice varieties across nations in South and Southeast Asia. The eight other Asian countries that are part of the agreement are Cambodia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Modern rice types such as those that are climate-resilient and can withstand drought or salinity, help vulnerable farmers establish a secure food supply for their families as well as add income that they can invest in their own future. The institute has partnered with 17 rice growing countries in Asia and Africa and runs offices in member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and countries such as Bangladesh, Burundi, China, India, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, South Korea and Sri Lanka.

Spring spiked cereals were sown on an area of 14.39 million hectares as of June 10, 2017 (100.4% of the plan) that is 2% less than at the same time last year (14.68 million hectares or 100.1% of the plan). The rice sowing target in the country has already been exceeded by 11.4%. Kazakh farmers planted 103 thousand hectares of rice by the reporting date, or 9.8% more than at the same time last year (93.8 Th ha).

The government will tap private suppliers for rice imports, instead of entering government-to-government agreements, in a bid to increase competitiveness and transparency. National Food Authority Council has agreed to shift from government-to-government agreements to a government-to-private procurement scheme for importing 250,000 tons of rice. NFA Council divide 250,000 metric tons into 8-10 tranches with a 25,000 to 5000 MT cap per lot to ensure competition and fairness.

Imported rice could no longer be shipped through Subic Bay Freeport based on the latest decision of the National Food Authority (NFA) Council. The decision came after weeks after the Bureau of Customs reportedly seized thousands of sacks of rice from Thailand illegally shipped through Subic port. The shipment was seized last April due to lack of import permit. It was reportedly worth P23 million.

Bangladesh is set to buy 250,000 tonnes of white and parboiled rice from Vietnam at prices $50-$90 higher per ton than the previous month, to maintain immediate availability of stock in the market, as well as reserves. The government will be importing 200,000 tonnes of white rice at $430 per ton, though the price per ton was $380 in the last month. The ministry is also planning on procuring 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice at a cost of $470 per ton, while the price had been less than $450 just a week ago. In addition, in a recent international tender by the food ministry, parboiled rice was listed at $ 427.85 per tonne and white rice was at $406.48. The country rice stock has hit a 5 year low, at 193,000 tonnes.

Production of rice and soybean in the 2017-18 (Jul-Jun) kharif season may come down due to the possibility of an erratic second half of the southwest monsoon season. A poor and erratic monsoon in second half of the season may potentially bring down the production (of rice) by 5-8 million tonne from the normal level. Production of rice in 2016-17 kharif season is estimated at 96.09 million tonne. Skymet has predicted the southwest monsoon this year at 95%, with rainfall declining in the second half of the season. Acreage of the grain in the ongoing kharif season is expected to be near normal at around 39.3 million hectares, due to the timely onset of the monsoon season.

The average export price of 25% broken non-basmati rice from India rose 6.3% on year to $347 per tonne during Jan-May. India non-basmati rice prices had fallen during 2016 due to weak demand from Iran and other buyers. During May, 25% broken non-basmati rice from India was exported at $360 a tonne, while that from competitors Thailand and Pakistan was sold at $394 a tonne and $367 a tonne, respectively. Prices of 25% broken rice from Thailand fell by 2.7% on year to $371 a tonne, while rice from Vietnam declined 3.6% on year to $328 a tonne.

Prices of rice fell in a key wholesale market of Amritsar due to weak demand from Iran and expectations of a larger crop this year.Steam variety of Pusa 1121 basmati rice was quoted at 6,800 rupees per 100 kg and parboiled variety at 5,700 rupees per 100 kg, both down 100 rupees from previous close. The Permal raw variety of non-basmati rice was quoted at 2,500 rupees per 100 kg in Amritsar, down 50 rupees.

Farmers in the country have sown kharif rice across 551,000 hectares, up 21.9% on year, as of Thursday. The acreage is 48.1% higher than the five-year average for the same period. The area under the rice crop in Nagaland was at about 143,000 hectares as of Thursday, up 8.3% on year, while in Arunachal Pradesh, the area was at 97,000 heactares, up from 85,000 hectares from a year ago. Uttar Pradesh, the largest producer of rice in the country, has not assigned any area under acreage up till now, while West Bengal the second largest producer of the crop has assigned 43,000 hectares, up from 42,000 hectares a year ago.

Coarse rice prices saw a surge of Tk3-Tk5 per kg while fine rice saw a Tk5-Tk10 hike per kg over the past month. Coarse rice prices have registered a whopping 42% rise in the last one year.Prices of coarse rice, which is generally consumed by poor and lower-middle income residents, have shot up by 5% to 10% in grocery stores across the country, compared to the last month. A kilogram of coarse rice was sold at Tk45-Tk50 while fine rice was sold at Tk55-Tk60 per kilogram at different grocery stores in the capital on Saturday. According to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, coarse rice prices saw a surge of Tk3-Tk5 per kg while fine rice saw a Tk5-Tk10 hike per kg over the past month.

The Philippines is projected to import at least 1.5 million metric tons (MMT) of rice this year, 53.33 percent more than the estimated 0.7 million metric tons (MT) the country purchased from abroad last year. The FAO also noted that the price of rice for exports has started to go up after the Philippines and Bangladesh have sent signals that it would import more rice this year.

U.S. 2016/17 rice ending stocks are lowered 2.0 million cwt this month on increased exports. Milled exports for 2016/17 are raised 4.0 million cwt on strong demand particularly in the Middle East. However, rough exports for 2016/17 are lowered 2.0 million cwt on a correction in Census data for shipments to El Salvador; the correction also led to a slight reduction in 2015/16 rough exports. Total supplies for 2017/18 are down 2.0 million cwt, reflecting the lower beginning stocks and unchanged production. All rice planted area remains estimated at 2.6 million acres despite weather-related uncertainties in the mid-South and California during planting this spring. NASS will release the Acreage report on June 30 providing an estimate for rice planted area and a forecast for harvested area. Total exports are raised 2.0 million cwt to 112.0 million with milled increased 3.0 million and rough reduced 1.0 million. Ending stocks are lowered 4.0 million cwt to 34.1 million, and the 2017/18 all rice season-average farm price is raised $0.30 per cwt at the midpoint to a range of $11.00 to $12.00. Global supplies are raised fractionally for both 2016/17 and 2017/18. The largest change is a 1.5-million-ton increase in 2016/17 India production to 108.0 million on updated government statistics. Global 2017/18 rice production is lowered fractionally to 481.0 million tons, down 2.1 million tons from the previous year and the second largest on record. Exports are raised 0.6 million tons in 2016/17 and 0.5 million tons in 2017/18 both largely on increases for India. Imports for 2017/18 are raised 0.4 million tons for Bangladesh on tight supplies. Only slight changes are made this month to total use. Ending stocks are raised 0.7 million tons for 2016/17 and 0.8 million tons for 2017/18, respectively.

The National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India will buy 1,500 tonne de-oiled rice bran and 300 tonne of rice polish through a reverse electronic auction on Friday. The commodities, used as cattle feed, will be bought on behalf of the Erode District Co-Operative Milk Producers’ Union. The National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India, which has nearly 200 dairy cooperatives as members, has developed an online trading platform to purchase feed stock and sell dairy products.

Prices of Thai rice hit their highest in nearly four years while those of the Vietnamese grain rose to their strongest in more than two years on strong demand from key importing countries. Thailand’s benchmark 5-percent broken rice RI-THBKN5-P1 was quoted at $440-$457 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) Bangkok, up from $430 last week. Exporters are now buying the grain at much higher prices than when deals were struck, while some have shied away from fresh deals. Thailand has exported 5.09 million tonnes of rice so far, this year, up 15.7 percent from the same period last year.