Rice

The government has initiated talks with officials from Saudi Arabia for relaxing the latters residual norms for import of basmati rice from India. Indias basmati exports to Saudi Arabia have taken a hit since June, when the West Asian country started following stringent maximum residual limit norms on the lines of European nations. In 2017-18 (Apr-Mar), India exported 792,480 tn of basmati to Saudi Arabia, against 809,343 tn in the preceding year. Indias total export of basmati in 2017-18 was 4.06 mln tn, up 1.8% from a year ago. Implementation of strict import norms for rice has added to pressure on the Indian industry, which is already battling with a halt in purchases from the European Union. Indias basmati exports to EU were suspended after the union reduced the permissible limit of tricyclazole residue in imported rice to 0.01 part per mln from 1 part per mln, effective Jan 1.

Area under rice in Telangana, one of the key producers in the country, increased on year due to a sharp rise in minimum support price to 1,750 rupees per 100 kg from 1,550 rupees. Rice acreage in the state in 2018-19 (Jul-Jun) was at 700,849 ha, up nearly 42% on year. Area under moong, however, dropped to 70,546 ha, down 18.8% on year, despite a rise in support price, but soybean acreage was 5.6% higher at 170,405 ha. However, area under cotton declined 3.9% on year to 1.7 mln ha due to the pink bollworm attack that created havoc in north India two years ago, and in Maharashtra and Telangana in the current cotton year that ends September. Acreage of turmeric increased to 46,217 ha, up 4.1% on year. Total sowing in Telangana in the ongoing kharif season touched 3.6 mln ha, again 3.4 mln ha a year ago.

Haryana Pollution Control Board has made it mandatory for farmers in the state to attach ‘super straw management system’ with their combine harvesters while harvesting paddy. The attachment of the straw management system with the self-propelled combine harvesters in the state would contain the “cause of air pollution arising from the burning of paddy straws by the farmers in open field. Typically, farmers in Punjab and Haryana use only combine harvesters for kharif paddy, which leaves stubble over a foot high. Harvesting this stubble manually is labour-intensive and time-consuming, leading farmers to resort to burning the residue. Burning of stubble from the harvested crop leads to severe smog in parts of north India, especially Delhi

India’s rice stocks in the central pool as on Aug- 1, 2018 stood at around 24.94 million tons up by 5.23% from23.70 million tons recorded during the corresponding period last year, according to data from the Food Corporation of India (FCI). India’s rice stocks in the central pool are up by 5.23% by from 23.25 million tons recorded on July-01, 2018. Highest stock could be seen in the state of Punjab (80.61 lakh tons) followed by Andhra Pradesh (19.58 lakh tons) and Haryana (17.16 lakh tons) and Uttar Pradesh (14.48 Lakh Tons). The higheststock recorded of 339.6lakh tons recordedin Feb-2018.

Turkey took its boldest steps yet to try to ward off a financial crisis by making it harder for traders to bet against the battered lira and easing rules on restructuring troubled loans that have already topped $20 billion. Turkey imposing taxes of ranging from 50 to 140% on rice, alcohol and cars from the U.S.

The recent floods in Vietnam have impacted large areas of agricultural land and cost the agriculture sector around 127 billion kips. The exact areas of crop damage are yet to be accessed by the authorities concerned who are waiting for the water levels to recede. The floods struck almost about 79,180 hectares of wet season rice and expected to damage at least 23,400 hectares. The Khammuan province experienced the worst water levels with damage estimated to about 45 percent of the total 80,773 hectares of rice planted followed by Savannakhet province with a damage expectation of around 14 percent of the total 196,275 hectares and Champassak province with 9 percent of the total 106,563 hectares. Pests and landslides too contributed to the destruction of the paddy.

Total U.S. rice supplies for 2018/19 are raised slightly from last month due to increased beginning stocks that were mostly offset by a smaller crop. Beginning stocks are raised 2.5 million cwt on a 3.5-million export reduction for the 2017/18 crop year that is partially offset by increased domestic and residual use. U.S. rice production is lowered 2.1 million cwt to 210.9 million on the first survey-based yield forecast of the 2018/19 season. Long-grain production is lowered 2.8 million cwt, while combined medium- and short-grain is raised 0.7 million cwt. The all rice yield forecast is lowered 76 pounds per acre from the previous forecast to 7,523. Exports for the 2018/19 crop year are lowered 4 million cwt to 98 million on a lack of price competitiveness relative to both Asian and South American exporters. Ending stocks are raised 1.4 million cwt to 43.6 million and the 2018/19 all rice season-average farm price is lowered $0.20 per cwt at the midpoint to a range of $11.40 to $12.40. Global supplies for 2018/19 are lowered fractionally on reduced production for Madagascar and Iraq. World trade is raised slightly, led by higher Pakistan exports and Iraq imports. Global exports remain record large. Global consumption and ending stocks are each lowered fractionally.

The area under paddy crop across the country this kharif season was at 30.8 mln ha. The area under paddy was higher than the average 30.5 mln ha for the period. Though paddy sowing in the country was lower on year, the lag in acreage has reduced from over 4% a week ago to 3%. The fall in acreage can be attributed to lower sowing in top producers Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Odisha, and Jharkhand due to weak monsoon rains. During Jun 1-Aug 12, the country received 503.2 mm rainfall, 11% below the normal weighted average of 562.3 mm.

Export of rice, specifically the non-basmati varieties, rose by 36% in the 2017-18 fiscal in comparison to the last financial year. The basmati and non-basmati rice exports figures in 2016-17 fiscal stood at 39.85 lakh metric tonne and 67.70 lakh metric tonne respectively. In 2017-2018, while the export volume was marginally more for basmati rice (40.56 lakh metric tonne), it saw a significant jump in the case of non-basmati rice (86.48 lakh metric tonne). India has been leading its rivals Thailand and Vietnam in rice exports for the past three years. This record export fetched India foreign currency worth Rs 50,000 crore. The share of basmati rice is Rs 26,000 crore, while Rs 24,000 crore has come from non basmati exports.

The lowest offer in the international tender from Iraq’s state grains buyer to purchase at least 30,000 tonnes of rice was $449.50 a tonne c&f free out for rice to be sourced from Thailand. The lowest offer was made for 40,000 tonnes. Another offer for Thai rice was made at $469.80 a tonne c&f free out. Most offers were made for rice from Uruguay, with the lowest price at $568.75 a tonne c&f free out. Lowest offer for US rice was $655 a tonne c&f free out.

Thailand is expected to export an estimated 11 million tons of rice throughout this year. The 11-million-ton rice for export throughout this year projected by the Ministry of Commerces Department of Foreign Trade compared to some 9.5 million tons earlier forecast by the Thai Rice Exporters Association. Some 6.7 million tons of the Thai rice has already been exported so far this year.The Thai rice sales volumes have apparently increased due to rising demands in the world rice market, including Indonesia which has accounted for a 679 percent increase in the purchase orders of the Thai rice, Malaysia which has accounted for a 53 percent increase and the Philippines which has marked a 25 percent increase.

The Madras High Court has deferred to Aug 17 the hearing of Madhya Pradesh government’s petition seeking geographical indication tag for basmati grown in the state. The court was supposed to hear this case on Tuesday. The Madhya Pradesh government had filed a fresh petition after Geographical Indication Registry, in March, had rejected the state’s plea to be included among those growers whose variety of rice can be marketed as basmati. Madhya Pradesh has been fighting to claim geographical indication tag for basmati since 2013. Geographical Indication certifies products or crops that have a specific origin and possess qualities or reputation pertaining to that geographical origin, such as Darjeeling Tea, Nagpur Orange and Mysore Silk. The state had demanded inclusion of a few of its districts–Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Sheopur, Datia, Shivpuri, Guna, Vidisha, Raisen, Sehore, Hoshangabad, Jabalpur and Narsingpur–under the regions suitable for cultivation of basmati.