Rice

Rice prices fell in the key wholesale market of Kapurthala due to slowdown in export demand. The steamed variety of Pusa 1121 basmati rice was sold at 7,000-7,200 rupees per 100 kg in Kapurthala, while parboiled variety was sold at 6,000-6,100 rupees per 100 kg. Prices of both varieties were down 100 rupees from previous close. Prices of 25% broken non-basmati rice were unchanged and the grain was sold at 2,300 rupees per 100 kg.

The interagency National Food Authority Council (NFAC) has approved the recommendation of the National Food Security Committee (NFSC) to allow the NFA to import 250,000 metric tons (MT) of rice. NFA needs to import at least 752,560 MT of rice to meet its Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac)-mandated stock requirement of 30 days at the onset of the lean months. The national daily rice requirement is pegged at 32,720 MT. NFA imports committee is set to finalize and approve the guidelines for the importation of 805,000 MT of rice by private traders under the 2017 minimum access volume (MAV) scheme of the World Trade Organization. The NFA imports rice to augment its buffer stock during the lean months of July to September, when palay harvest significantly goes down due to harsh weather.

Prices of rice exported from Thailand have increased due to continued demand for white and parboiled rice from the country. During the week ended May 22, prices of rice exported from Thailand increased 4-6% on week. It pegged rice production in Thailand in 2016-17 at 17 million tonne, against 15.8 million tonne the previous year due to higher recovery in off-season production. The estimate for exports from the country was, however, kept unchanged at 9 million tonne.

U.S. rice producers could see higher prices for their 2017 crops – and it not mainly because of the losses due to the flooding that occurred in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana and California in late April and early May. The long-grain rice price forecast is up about $1 per hundredweight – around $9.70 to $10.70.

Iraq precedent-setting purchase of 30,000 MT of U.S. long grain milled rice comes after more than 16 months without any Iraqi purchases of U.S. rice. The 30,000 MT sale for July delivery was awarded to ADM, and comes almost a full year since the MOU was negotiated between the MOT and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Thailand Prime Minister has asked the commerce ministry to sell 18 million tonne of stocked rice to save the huge cost of maintaining inventories. The government has already sold 13 million tonne of rice procured from farmers at a minimum support price. The government took three years to sell the rice stock and it fetched lower prices but deteriorating quality of the grain made the sale necessary. Thailand competes with India in the global rice export market.

With Met office forecasting rain from first week of June, farmers of Kalahandi district apprehend heavy loss of their paddy crop which is lying in the open at various mandis. 50 per cent of paddy crop have been harvested and brought to mandis or procurement centres. Of the total 89 mandis opened so far, 45 do not have permanent shed or store house. As a result, the hundreds of bags of paddy have been dumped in the open. Kalahandi administration has set a target to procure 16 lakh quintals of rabi paddy and toll date, 9,204 quintals have been procured from 125 farmers through 27 mandis of PACS.

The acreage is almost unchanged from that in the year-ago period–175,700 hectare. It is, however, lower than the normal area of 207,000 hectare for this period, based on the average of the last five years. In Odisha, one of India major rice producing states, paddy was sown over 300 hectare, up 200% from a year ago. In Assam, another major producer, the acreage was down 9.2% on year at 59,000 hectare. Sowing is yet to begin in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab.

May 28 Bangladesh received a lowest offer of $406.48 a tonne from Singapore-based Agrocorp International in a tender that opened on Sunday to import 50,000 tonnes of white rice. Five traders competed for the tender issued by the Directorate General of Food at a time when local rice prices have reached record highs and state reserves are at 10-year lows.

Bangladeshis buy the poorest quality of rice at the highest prices in the world. According to the government, a kilogramme of a coarse variety of rice is being sold at Tk 48, setting a record in the country economy. Another South Asia nation, Pakistan, stood second on the chart, but its nationals buy the same variety of rice at Tk 10 less than in Bangladesh. Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), in the past month, the price of rice has increased by 11 per cent and prices have doubled in the past one year.

NFA in Marawi City had 38,000 bags of rice, enough to feed the whole province of Lanao del Sur for five days. Combined with commercial rice supply, the stocks can feed the whole province for 15 days. NFA rice stocks for the whole of Mindanao currently stands at 15 million bags.

Local rice prices have reached record highs and state reserves are at six-year lows in the wake of flooding in April that wiped out around 0.7 million tonnes of output. Plans to import 0.6 million tonne of rice soon amid low stocks. To keep tariffs on private imports to protect farmers. Vietnamese prices hit 13 month high on strong demand from top importing countries such as Bangladesh and the Philippines.

Vietnam rice hit its highest level in over a year this week on potential export deals and prices in Thailand firmed up as supply eased, while the Indian variety gained on growing demand from Africa. Strong demand from top importing countries such as Bangladesh and the Philippines are fuelling the uptrend in Vietnam and Thailand rice prices. Vietnam 5-percent broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 was quoted at a level unseen since April last year, at $360-$380 a tonne, FOB Saigon, up from $365-$370 last week. Thailand benchmark 5-percent broken rice RI-THBKN5-P1 firmed this week to $411-$412 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) Bangkok, from $385-$411 last week, the highest in nine months.

India exports of non-basmati rice are likely rise 5% in 2017-18 (Apr-Mar) from about 6.63 million tonne last year, due to high availability in country a bumper crop in 2016-17 (Jul-Jun). India non-basmati rice output in 2016-17 (Jul-Jun) is estimated at a record high of 103 million tonne. Higher supplies in the country have dragged the prices down, which has made Indian rice cheaper than its competitors. In global markets, 25% broken non-basmati rice from India is available at $415 a tonne while that from Thailand is sold at $544 a tonne and from Pakistan at $435 a tonne.