Unisame demands immediate closure of QRC
The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises ( UNISAME ) has
invited the attention of the ministry of commerce ( MINCOM ) to the
difficulties being faced by the SME rice exporters due to the one week delay in
the closure of the Quality Review Committee ( QRC ) and urged
the federal commerce minister engineer Khurram
Dastagir to keep his promise of disbanding the futile committee and to close it
immediately as every single day matters for closure of this troublesome
body.President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver said it was finally decided by the
MINCOM to close the QRC as it was unanimously agreed that QRC has become futile
and the committee as pointed out by all stakeholders is not serving any
purpose. The buyers prefer to import rice in their own or selected brands of
blended rice.
In fact it is an
impediment as the majority of rice being exported is non basmati. The QRC was
entrusted to protect the basmati label and make sure the basmati rice exported
was not mixed with contrast varieties. The global demand is for 1121 which is
non basmati rice and 386 rice which is also not basmati rice. Many buyers
demand blended rice of different varieties with basmati rice as basmati rice
has aroma and when mixed with 1121 and 386 makes it aromatic.> It is
pertinent to note that 1121 is the most expensive rice. It is in great demand
all over the gulf and middle east countries but is not classified as basmati
rice. The demand for basmati rice is very little as compared to 1121 and 386.
QRC is not required any more and its presence as an inspection cell is more an
hurdle than a monitor because it is issuing certificates for non basmati rice
as basmati rice under pressure to keep business going. The big rice exporters
are obliged but the SMES are facing difficulties.
Besides the concept of inspection is for third party
inspection and always the prerogative of the buyer. In the last several
meetings it was decided to disband the QRC and the government had indicated
it's closure by 30th
June 2015 positively which
is also the end of the fiscal year. Unfortunately no intimation has been
received till close of business today and a meeting has been ummoned on 6th July 2015 to work out the final modalities and
examination of the audit report.
The requirements of returning the properties purchased by the Rice Exporters
Association of Pakistan ( REAP ) to the government is perhaps bothering
REAP and it is presumed that are influencing it's delay. It was also suggested
to use the premises for the Pakistan Rice Board (PRB) which would be another
mistake as the PRB would be another white elephant.
Source: UNISAME
Rice exports: Vietnam fails with
low-price export strategy
VietNamNet
Bridge - Though Vietnam offered the lowest bidding price among three tenders,
it was not chosen as the supplier by the Filipino National Food Authority
(NFA).
Thoi
Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon quoted the director of a rice export company as saying that
all three exporters lost the bid to provide 100,000 tons of 25 percent broken
rice to the Philippines.The three exporters attending the bid on June 16
included Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. The problem was that they all offered
prices higher than the price level fixed by NFA at $408.14 per ton.Vietnam
offered $417 per ton, and Thailand and Cambodia $418 and $464 per ton,
respectively.At previous bids, if NFA did not choose suppliers after the first
bid, it allowed bidders to lower the bid. However, the principle was not
applied this time.An analyst said that Vietnam fails with its low-price
strategy. He said the Philippines recently tried to force the prices down
because it anticipated that Vietnamese exporters, once losing the bids, would
lower prices to obtain the right to supply rice.As a result, farmers have to sell
rice to exporters at prices which cannot bring profits.“Vietnamese farmers
cannot make reasonable profits though they have been working hard on rice
fields,” the analyst said.
Professor Vo Tong Xuan repeatedly
warned that the monopoly enjoyed by Vinafood 1 (the Northern Food Corporation)
and Vinafood 2 (Southern Food Corporation) is the biggest hurdle that prevents
private businesses to join the rice market. Taking full advantage of the
monopoly, the two corporations can control the rice prices at which they
collect rice from farmers.Former late Deputy PM Nguyen Cong Tan also noted that
Vinafood 1 and Vinafood 2 are the exclusive buyers, while the Vietnam Food
Association enjoyed the right to grant quotas for export.Farmers thus do not
have opportunities to contact other enterprises and partners to sell rice at
better prices.In related news, Nguyen Ngoc De from the Can Tho University
warned that Myanmar has emerged as a strong rival to Vietnam in rice
exports.The country wants to become one of the three largest rice exporters in
the world in the near future.It not only exports low-cost rice, but also
high-quality fragrant rice which mostly targets the EU market. According
to the Myanmar Rice Federation, the country plans to export 200,000 tons of rice
to the EU this year, double the export volume to the market last year.
Dat
Viet
As their fields
dry up, farmers face the threat of financial ruin
Pratch Rujivanarom
The Nation
Pathum Thani June 29, 2015 1:00 am
The Nation
Pathum Thani June 29, 2015 1:00 am
TO RICE FARMERS, ongoing drought is
an imminent financial crisis. Their paddy fields remain parched this year as
authorities warn locals against sowing seeds or planting seedlings on their farmland.Now,
my rented fields are empty. I hope the government will provide some help to
ease my woes," said Suree Kansomngam, a farmer in the province's Nong Suea
district.
She
said without any yield from the field, her family would definitely have difficulty
covering its daily expenses, let alone repaying debts to the Bank for
Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.She said in addition to the drought,
the problem also lay in falling rice prices."We have to sell our crops
from the last farming season at a very low price. I can sell the rice for only
Bt6,000 per two cubic metres - while the cost for growing one rai of rice paddy
is already up to Bt5,000," Suree lamented.She added that now authorities
have told rice farmers in the Chao Phraya River Basin to postpone growing
rice.Suree is not alone in her plight. So many rice farmers in the area are
sharing the same fate.Even those who have grown rice ahead of the authorities'
warning are struggling in their own way. They have now had to pray that their paddy
fields will get adequate water until they are ready for harvest. Their yield is
also facing hungry rats.
Anan
Bunsongsri who has 30 rai of rice paddy in Khlong Luang district said around
half the rice in his fields, which were the crop from dry season and not yet
ready to harvest, were eaten by the hordes of rats."Up to 30 cubic metres
of rice have already damaged. This is the highest damaged crop as far as I can
remember. I trap many rats everyday but they are still coming," Anan said.
"I think it is because there is not much grown rice paddy left in the
area, so they all come to find food in my fields."He demanded authorities
take more action to help the farmers because not only were their crops damaged
by the drought and pests, the selling price of rice was low too."I have
invested Bt70,000 in this crop. I don't know how much I'll gain after
harvesting the rice in the next two weeks," he said.
Parts
of Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya are being hit by the drought as well as many
regions of the country. The water level in Raphiphat Canal and many other
branch canals dried up to only few centimetres late on Friday.This year's
drought situation was more severe than the previous years. Arun Pholti has had
to postpone the rainy season rice plantation until late July because of water
shortage even though his paddy fields were at the head of a local irrigation
canal."Normally, I plant the rainy season crop around the beginning of
June but this year I still can't grow a new crop even if I’ve already harvested
last year's crop," said Arun.The drought has led to not only a water
shortage but rat infestation here too - another major factor that could destroy
the rice yield.
According
to Arun, many farmers have had to abandon their fields and find a new job in
the city because of the crop destruction and financial problems."I am
luckier than many other farmers because my land is very near the irrigation
canal, so my paddy field access to the water before many farmers downstream. I
also run a small restaurant, so I have other sources of income. I have heard
that some farmers down there have had to sell their land and move away,"
he said.Images: Despite the ongoing rainy season,drought is so serious that a
resident can easlly walk across the dry Ping River in Kamphaneng Phet's Muang
district yesterday.
Rice Export Goals Quietly Fall
Sunday, 28 June 2015; News by
Khmer Times/T. Mohan and Muny Sithyna
Workers tend to rice in the
fields of Siem Reap province. Photo: ND Strupler
PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times) –
Cambodia’s ambitious goal of exporting one million tons of rice this year has
been quietly dropped. A follow-up export goal of 600,000 tons also is falling
by the wayside.Undermining these goals is the reality of the rice paddies:
labor emigration to Thailand, high costs for milling, and spreading
bankruptcies among small rice farmers. This is the view of two experts
affiliated with the Cambodia Rice Federation, the leading industry group.
Instead of an expected great leap forward for Cambodian milled rice exports last year, final numbers showed that exports only grew by 2.2 percent, to 387,061 tons in 2014.
Instead of an expected great leap forward for Cambodian milled rice exports last year, final numbers showed that exports only grew by 2.2 percent, to 387,061 tons in 2014.
Late Rains, Low Rice Harvest
Now, with June rains delayed in many parts of the Kingdom, a checkerboard drought pattern is expected to suppress further growth.“Now the rice industry is in dire straits and may be insolvent by the year end,” warns a new internal report from the Rice Federation. Some millers and exporters have incurred tremendous losses and may be forced to shut down.David Van, a former Senior Advisor to the Federation confirmed the report and gave his own analysis.“Farmers have long gone bankrupt, but nobody noticed it because they had left the country [to Thailand] to avoid paying arrears to micro finance institutions,” he said. “Europe’s ‘Everything But Arms’ policy is meant to improve our farmers’ livelihood. But farmers are getting scarcer in Cambodia. In some provinces 70 percent of the farmers have deserted the paddy fields.” Agreement over a silent crisis in the rice paddies came from Song Saran, president of AMRU Rice (Cambodia) and board member of the Rice Federation.
Men Desert Paddies for Jobs in Thailand
“Within the last two or three years, many of our farmers have turned away from farming,” Mr. Saran said. “From what I see in the villages I have gone to, the male workforce has gone. In Preah Vihear, mostly women do the farming. Only 10 to 20 percent are men, since the farmers left to work in Thailand. If we don’t motivate them, the paddy stock that we expect cannot be achieved.”Last year, a World Bank report calculated that Cambodia’s high fuel and electricity costs make milling rice here 30 percent more expensive than in Vietnam and Thailand. Cambodia’s milling capacity has increased seven-fold over the last decade.
China Wants Cambodia as a Supplier
On the up side, China is loaning Cambodia $300 million to build 10 modern rice warehouses. At the same time, the nation’s road network is gradually improving, due in part to Chinese aid.
China’s goal is to turn Cambodia into a reliable rice supplier. This is all the more urgent given the often rocky relations between China and Vietnam.“Exporting to China is positive as it is increasing, compared to the previous year, so it reflects them recognizing our rice quality and price,” said Mr. Saran of AMRU.On a further positive note, Cambodians’ growing purchasing power means that more and more of the nation’s annual 9 million ton rice harvest is simply eaten at home. This helps explain why the nation’s paddy rice harvest has doubled in a decade, but exports have been stagnant over the last two years.
Cambodia Loses to Vietnam
Indeed, despite these improvements, Cambodia lost to Vietnam two weeks ago a 100,000-ton tender to export rice to the Philippines.“We also face competition in the region, and it is hard for us to make profits,” Mr. Saran said. “We export, but gain very little profit because the regional climate among the rice exporters is not very good, especially with Thailand. Thailand can sell at a lower price and has the capacity to produce more rice since they have better techniques and skills.“Our millers have low rice drying capacity, they face problems with storage and financing,” he continued. “Farmers need funds to pay their debts. They cannot wait to sell their paddy at a more profitable time. After the harvest, they need to sell it right away. We should support our farmers to be able to sell their paddy at a high price.”
No Laissez Faire for Rice
Mr. Van, a longtime rice expert, said rice farming, once the economic mainstay of the nation, cannot thrive if the government follows a hands off “laissez faire policy.”“The commodity market of a country cannot survive without adequate government strategy and policy,” he said. Agreement came from Mr. Saran, whose company has been buying rice in Cambodia since 1982.“The Cambodia Rice Federation, as well as my company, try to deal directly with the farmers themselves to prevent them from losing their money planting something we do not want to export,” he said in an interview. “We should give farmers the motivation to grow rice by reducing their costs, offering low interest rates and helping farmers purchase fertilizers and equipment in bulk and at affordable prices,” he continued. “Because from what I see, farmers usually go on credit with their equipment and fertilizer suppliers and this exposes them to the exploitation of their suppliers.”
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/12698/rice-export-goals-quietly-fall/
Commerce Ministry to hold
meet over low domestic rice price
PETCHANET
PRATRUANGKRAI
THE
NATION June 29, 2015 1:00 am
THE Commerce Ministry will this week call for a meeting with rice
exporters, millers, and traders to try and solve the problem of the rice price
falling domestically despite the higher export price for rice and stronger
demand globally due to drought including in Thailand.Commerce Minister General
Chatchai Sarikulya said the domestic rice price should increase soon because of
the widespread drought."The price of rice domestically |should reflect the
export price, with |the price of white rice increasing |gradually from higher
demand amid drought in many countries, mainly in Thailand, China, and
Vietnam," said Chatchai.He said that the ministry would ask traders to buy
rice from farmers at a fair price and one that reflects market demand.
Chatchai added that with lower rice supplies in the world market,
Beijing has urged Thailand to accelerate the supply of rice to China under a
government-to-government agreement."Thailand should be able to export 10
million tonnes of rice this year as more orders will come from drought-hit
nations," he said.The Thai Rice Exporters Association reported that
Thailand shipped 3.77 million tonnes of rice in the first five months of the
year, down 1.4 per cent on the same period last year, while the value dropped
2.7 per cent year-on-year to Bt61.36 billion.However, shipments in May were up
by 7.3 per cent in volume to 945,597 tonnes, while the value rose 2.3 per cent
to Bt14.11 billion.
As of June 24, the export price for 5 per cent white rice was
US$380 (Bt1,284) a tonne, up from $373 a tonne the previous week.Last week, the
price of 5 per cent white Vietnamese rice was $355, and Indian rice was $370 a
tonne.The Thai Rice Millers Association reported that the price of white paddy
rice was between Bt7, 500-Bt8,000 a tonne last week.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Commerce-Ministry-to-hold-meet-over-low-domestic-r-30263301.html
Monsoon enters lull phase; Pacific typhoon may revive it from weekend
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE
29:
The monsoon has entered a subdued phase and is likely to lie low
for the first 15 days in July except along the foothills of Himalayas and parts
of east India.The India Met Department said that the monsoon was vigorous
(marked by heavy rain) over east Uttar Pradesh, east Madhya Pradesh and
Arunachal Pradesh during the 24 hours ending on Monday morning.The Met has
already predicted that July is likely to deliver below normal rainfall (at 92
per cent of long-period average) this year.
Weather systems
The two main rain-driving systems are a low-pressure area (erstwhile deep depression from the Arabian Sea) over east Uttar Pradesh and a truncated offshore trough from Maharashtra to Kerala.The ‘low’ will continue to loiter in the region for a couple of days and then weaken and merge with the land-based monsoon trough extending from north-west to south-east (northwest India to Bay of Bengal). But indications are that a fresh low-pressure area may form over the head end of the Bay of Bengal (northernmost part of the Bay) by the weekend.This would happen as the monsoon flows get energised from ‘pull’ exerted by a projected typhoon in the west Pacific, southeast of Philippines and heading towards east China according to initial assessments.The revived flows are expected to touch off activity in the Arabian Sea, peninsular India and the Bay of Bengal from Friday/Saturday.US models predict that the initial west-northwest movement of the typhoon would trigger the formation of a ‘low’ in South China Sea that lies next to the east.
Fresh bay ‘low’
The Pacific and South China Sea teaming up in this manner has sent its own ‘pulse’ into the Bay of Bengal which is the next big sea body that is located further east in a straight line.No wonder models point to the ‘sweet spot’ in the head Bay where they expect a fresh ‘low’ to materialise. It would most possibly take the path along foothills and keep the monsoon in full flow in that region only.This promises another round of heavy to very rainfall and suspected landslides in northeast and east India from the weekend.Meanwhile, the offshore trough has been delivering good rainfall over Kerala and adjoining region in the south peninsula over the past couple of days.It is now a feeble formation and will cause rainfall over isolated places over Kerala and coastal Karnataka during the next couple of days.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/agri-biz/monsoon-enters-lull-phase-pacific-typhoon-may-revive-it-from-weekend/article7367546.ece
Myanmar to export more
aromatic rice to Singapore, U.S.
Xinhua News Agency
on Jun
29, 2015 @ 4:55 PM
Myanmar to export more aromatic
rice to Singapore, U.S.YANGON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will export greater
volume of aromatic rice Paw San to Singapore and the United States, according
to sources with the Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF) Monday.The production of Paw
San rice is low as it can only be cultivated in Ayeyawady Delta and Bago and
some parts of Sagaing Regions in monsoon, said the federation.In previous
fiscal year, only around 20 tons of Paw San rice were exported to the United
States.At present, Paw San rice is priced at around 900 U.S. dollars per ton in
its export.Meanwhile, the European Union is seeking import deal of two types of
aromatic rice -- Lone Thwal Hmwe and Paw San as demand in Europe is on
rise.Officials of the MRF said Myanmar can grow both short and long grain
aromatic rice to meet EU demand through the country's contract farming system,
pointing out that exporting to Europe would enable Myanmar growers to diversify
their markets.
Paw San was regarded as the
world's best rice at the World Rice Conference in 2011.Myanmar official
statistics indicate that the country's rice export reached nearly 2 million
tons in the fiscal year 2014-15 which ended in March, up 40 percent from the
previous yearThis article was produced by the Xinhua News Agency, the official
press agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua describes itself as the
"information organ of the central government." Given China’s size and
importance, GlobalPost publishes Xinhua’s press feed as a resource for its
readers and makes no claims as to journalistic accuracy.
http://www.globalpost.com/article/6598057/2015/06/29/myanmar-export-more-aromatic-rice-singapore-us
Commerce Ministry plans
4th rice auction with hope of greater attention from bidders
BANGKOK, 26 June 2015 – The
Commerce Ministry plans the fourth auction of 1.39 million tonnes of both
fragrant and white rice in different grades kept in the government stockpiles
nationwide, Banjongjit Angsusingh, deputy director-general of the Foreign Trade
Department said on Friday.The grains are from 156 government stockpiles, 107
warehouses under the Public Warehouse Organization and 49 Marketing
Organization for Farmers warehouses in 32 provinces across Thailand.There are
fourteen types of rice to be sold this time and 56,000 tonnes of the amount are
White Rice 5% and Jasmine Rice 100%.Banjongjit was confident the fourth auction
could draw greater attention from private bidders as the ministry was
successful in the latest auction in which 70% of stockpiled rice was sold.She
believed “demand in the rice markets remains high. So the auction comes at the
right time and it seems to have no negative impact on the whole rice market”.
Nigeria: CBN Explains Denial of Foreign Exchange to Rice Importers
By Bassey Udo
The
Central Bank of Nigeria on Friday explained its new policy of making public
lists of goods and services items barred from for accessingFOREIGN EXCHANGE
in the Nigerian market for
their imports.The Bank's Director of Trade and Exchange department, Olakanmi
Gbadamosi, said the new policy was part of efforts at stabilising the foreignEXCHANGE MARKET and stimulating local
production of goods and services."It has become imperative to exclude
importers of some goods and services from accessing foreign exchange at the
Nigerian foreignEXCHANGE MARKETS in order to encourage local
production of these items," Mr. Gbadamosi said.
in the Nigerian market for
their imports.The Bank's Director of Trade and Exchange department, Olakanmi
Gbadamosi, said the new policy was part of efforts at stabilising the foreignEXCHANGE MARKET and stimulating local
production of goods and services."It has become imperative to exclude
importers of some goods and services from accessing foreign exchange at the
Nigerian foreignEXCHANGE MARKETS in order to encourage local
production of these items," Mr. Gbadamosi said.
"The
implementation of the policy will help conserve foreign reserves as well as
facilitate the resuscitation of domestic industries and employment
generation," he added.Some of the affected items included rice, cement,
margarine, palm kernel, palm oil products, vegetable oils, meat and processed
meat products, vegetables and process vegetable products, poultry (chicken,
eggs, turkey), tomatoes/tomato paste, soap and cosmetics and clothes.Other
items included private airplanes/jets, Indian incense, tinned fish in sauce
(Geisha/sardines, cold rolled steel sheets, galvanized steel sheets, roofing
sheets, wheelbarrows, head pans, metal boxes/containers, enamelware, steel
drums and pipes, wire mesh, steel nails, wood particle boards and panels.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201506290166.html
El Nino threatens to disrupt rice
trading
- 29 Jun 2015 at 07:05 1,875 viewed0 comments
- NEWSPAPER SECTION: BUSINESS | WRITER: PHUSADEE ARUNMAS
The potential impact of El Nino on paddy
farmlands worldwide is changing rice trading patterns, triggering importers'
fears that lower rice supply from drought caused by the weather phenomenon
could translate into higher prices.Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of
the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said the dry spell had now started to
affect the world's rice trade psychologically. Importers are increasingly aware
the dry weather may worsen to the extent that it hits global rice
production."The world's rice trading environment is now changing," he
said. "Buyers who had been reluctant to purchase rice and keep it in their
stockpiles in recent years are now doing just that for fear global rice prices
will rise."
Mr Chookiat said the market for parboiled rice
had become active again, with higher purchase orders from Nigeria and Benin
resuming, leading Thailand's overall May rice exports to surpass 900,000 tonnes
from an average of 700,000 tonnes in previous months.Strong exports are also
anticipated next month if Thailand can win a rice import tender from the
Philippines. That country is expected to invite tenders from Thailand and
Vietnam to supply 250,000 tonnes of rice in July to boost its buffer stocks as
well as prevent rice price increases.
The Philippines, one of the world's
biggest rice importers, last month said it could buy more if the
drought-inducing El Nino intensified, as its government hoped to avert a
potential surge in food prices due to possible supply disruptions that could be
caused by El Nino, which Japan earlier confirmed had set in.Last year, the
Philippines imported more than 1.8 million tonnes of rice to replenish rice
stocks and control price rises.Higher demand from that country would be good
news for regional rice markets that have been flagging this year due
to oversupply.Mr Chookiat said the psychological impact was now clearer, as
indicated by higher free-on-board prices for 5% white rice, which rose by US$10
a tonne last week to $385 a tonne.
Local milled rice prices also increased
accordingly to 11,500 baht a tonne from 11,120 baht, while paddy prices rose to
between 8,000 and 8,200 baht a tonne from 7,700 baht.However, Mr Chookiat
said despite the impact being clearly visible in India and Pakistan and
lower-than-expected rainfall in Thailand, it remained unclear whether and how
far global rice production would drop. India's monsoon season, due to start in
July or August, will have to be closely monitored.Nonetheless, he said the
unusually low rainfall in Thailand was expected to shave production of the
second crop by 40-50% from 8-9 million tonnes of paddy this year.
Charoen Laothamatas, president of the Thai Rice
Exporters Association, said the main factors dictating prospects for global
rice prices were likely to be rice production levels in China and India and how
much these countries were affected by drought.Prospects are expected to be
clearly evident around August, when their main crops start being harvested, he
said.Mr Charoen said rice exporters expected Thailand would ship no fewer than
9 million tonnes this year.As of June 15, Thailand had shipped 3.9 million
tonnes of rice this year, fetching 64.2 billion baht, down by 8% from the same
period last year.
link:http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/606668/el-nino-threatens-to-disrupt-rice-trading
19 plead innocent in G2G rice-corruption case
- 29 Jun 2015 at 21:30 1,958
viewed5 comments
- WRITER: ONLINE REPORTERS
Former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom
and 18 others pleaded innocent in the government-to-government rice-sales
corruption case Monday.Two others charged in the case -- Weerawut Wajjanapukka,
former secretary to Mr Boonsong, and Suthee Luanthaisong -- failed to appear
and never have applied for bail. The court issued arrest warrants for the pair.
Mr Boonsong and other defendants are allowed to
submit written testimony to the court by Aug 31, and the court set Sept 29 for
the first examination of evidence.The 21 individuals were indicted March 17 on
charges of committing and supporting malfeasance in violation of the Criminal
Code and competitive-bidding and anti-corruption laws.Prosecutors alleged they
colluded to help two Chinese firms not authorised by the Chinese government to
undertake G2G deals with the Thai government to buy rice from stockpiles
generated by the Yingluck Shinawatra administration's pledging scheme.Each in
the group, which comprises three politicians in the Yingluck government, three
civil servants and 15 authorised directors of companies and juristic persons,
faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment and combined fines of 35
billion baht.
link:http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/607496/19-plead-innocent-in-g2g-rice-corruption-case. View our policies at http://goo.gl/9HgTd and http://goo.gl/ou6Ip. © Post Publishing PCL. All rights reserved.
USA Rice Co-Sponsors
Cooking Seminars in Colombia
Chef Bernardo cooks for a packed house
BOGOTA,
COLOMBIA -- USA Rice recently hosted a seminar here, conducted by Executive
Chef Bernardo Gomez Cortazar, focusing on the high quality and benefits of
utilizing U.S. rice dishes and poultry products in food service. More than 60 participants from the hotel and
foodservice sector attended the interactive activity which took place at the
prestigious Mario Moreno culinary academy, one of the best culinary schools in
Latin America.The seminars were sponsored by USA Rice, the USA Poultry &
Egg Export Council, and the United Soybean Board. Similar seminars were conducted in Cali and
Medellin.
"U.S.
rice exports to Colombia have skyrocketed this year, making Colombia our number
one export market on a milled rice basis," said Jim Guinn, USA Rice vice
president of international promotion. In the first four months of 2015, the
U.S. has exported nearly 240,000 MT of rice, which is nearly 150,000 MT above
the tariff rate quota (TRQ) for 2015.
Just four years ago, Colombia was our 51st largest export destination
bringing in less than 5,000 MT of U.S. rice. 
Guinn
added, "After the successful conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement with
Colombia and the establishment of an Export Trading Company to manage the
licenses to import U.S. rice into Colombia under the TRQ, Colombia has been one
of our top export markets."
Contact: Sarah Moran (703)
236-1457
Crop Progress: 2015 Crop 16 Percent Headed
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WASHINGTON, DC --
Sixteen percent of the nation's 2015 rice acreage is headed, according to
today's U.S. Department of Agriculture's Crop
Progress Report.
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CME Group/Closing Rough Rice
Futures
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COURTESY: USA
RICE FEDERATION
APEDA News (India)
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EAC states impose common
external tariffs to protect paddy farmers
BY CORRESPONDENT
29th June 2015
The East Africa Community (EAC)
The East Africa Community (EAC) partner states have imposed
Common External Tariff to help traders and farmers in the community to benefit
from what they grow and protect rice smuggling that destroy small scale farmers
engaged in paddy production in the region. A report from Rice Council of
Tanzania (RCT) issued by the Rice Council Executive Director, Winnie Bashagi
say that the EAC has decided to imposed the common external tariffs after it
identified that right now Tanzania and other EAC rice industry is under the
threat of imported rice from Thailand and Pakistan.She said across Tanzania,
and the rice value chain, farmers, millers and traders are bitter about the
high volumes of cheap Asian rice that somehow makes its way into the country
and region duty free.
In a national market
assessment in March and April, the Rice Council found Chapa Africa Thai rice
and Kasuku Pakistan rice in every region visited. If you look at the
wholesale price and what it should cost to import with the EAC rice tariff
paid,” says Winnie Bashagi, “it is clear that the tariff was not paid. If the
tariff had been paid, the importers would be losing on every kilogramme they
sold,” she said.lso in late 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture declared Tanzania
to have produced a 700,000-tonne rice surplus.This surplus was trapped in the
country as, in June 2013, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda imposed the Common
External Tariff of the East African Community on all Tanzanians in reaction to
some 80,000 tonnes of duty-free rice officially allowed into Tanzania in early
2013, according to the Council’s Position Paper.
When the 2013 duty-free rice
began entering the EAC partner states, often blended with Tanzania rice, the
partner states imposed the EAC tariff on all Tanzania rice. The trapped surplus
in Tanzania led to two years of wholesale prices too low for smallholders to
breakeven on their production. Only since Uganda lifted the tariff on Tanzania
has the wholesale rice price begun to improve. Rwanda has yet to lift the
tariff.In Morogoro Municipality and in Kahama, the council witnessed large
lorries unloading Chapa Africa Thai rice and large quantities being blended
with Tanzanian rice. The blending of this smuggled rice with Tanzania rice
for export to Uganda led Uganda to re-impose the EAC tariff on all Tanzania
rice.
Cutting off the surplus from
Uganda would depress the wholesale price again, further damaging the
livelihoods of at least 500,000 smallholder rice farmers and the 2 million
family members who depend on them.On the other hand a trader from Kahama noted
that the imported rice is killing my business,” said a trader in Kahama, whose
business is selling Tanzania rice to Rwanda and Uganda, who wishes to remain
anonymous for fear of physical harm. One big shot brought in three
thousand tonnes for DR Congo. He paid duties on a bit to cover his tracks, but
all of it he sold to local warehouses. It never went to DR Congo.” The trader
says it’s impossible for Tanzanians to compete with cheap Asian rice.In
Morogoro, local millers complain that imported Asian rice is selling in shops
for less than they can pay farmers for unmilled paddy.“Smuggled rice appears to
enter Tanzania in two ways,” says Rice Council Chairman Julius Wambura.
“Zanzibar does not enforce the 75
percent EAC tariff and imports enough rice to the extent that, the study by
SERA 2013 quoted FAO food balance sheet of fifty kilogrammes of rice per person
per day! This rice doesn’t stay on the island but comes by dhow to the pirate
ports along the coast.”The second way, according to the Council, appears to be
tens of thousands of tonnes imported as transit goods to the DRC that are
dumped in Tanzania.“The only people making money in the rice industry right now
are the traders who are smuggling rice,” says Wambura. “Everyone else has been
losing money for two years.
The large-scale smuggling
threatens to ruin the industry. We are calling on the government to put a stop to
the smuggling and to enforce the rule of law and the EAC treaty
commitments.”Through smallholder apex associations, the Rice Council of
Tanzania represents some 500,000 of the smallholder rice farmers across the
country who in total number are about a million. The Council also represents
commercial farms, agri-input suppliers, traders, millers and packagers of
Tanzania rice, and banks that lend to the industry. “If the government
wants to reach its Big Results Now and National Rice Development Strategy goals
of doubling rice production for food security and regional export by 2018,”
said Council Chairman Wambura, “The first step is to put an end, once and for
all, to the large-scale organised rice smuggling. Otherwise, the rice industry
will not go forward but backward.”
News Shared by PhilRice
DA-PhilRice, IRRI develop climate-resilient varieties
To mitigate the
impacts of climate change on rice production and food security, the Department
of Agriculture (DA)-PhilRice and the International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) are developing varieties that could withstand multiple biotic and
abiotic stresses. The collaborative project titled, ‘Accelerating the
development and adoption of next-generation (NextGen) rice varieties for major
ecosystems in the Philippines’ aims to fast-track the introduction
and adoption of higher yielding inbred and hybrid rice varieties resistant to
major pests and diseases and tolerant to adverse environments.
To help the country achieve food security, the
project targets to produce higher yields by more than 5% of previous varieties,
using marker-assisted breeding and selection, multi-location testing, increased
breeder/foundation seed production and dissemination.Conventionally, it takes 6
years of breeding work, 3 years of testing, and 2 years of commercial seed
production before farmers can plant a new variety.“The project would help
shorten the breeding time to produce new varieties faster and make them
accessible to rice farmers,” said Thelma F. Padolina, senior research fellow at
PhilRice.
Multi-location trials are done in all major
irrigated and rainfed rice-growing regions in the country under the supervision
of DA-RFOs and state colleges and universities. Adaption trials are being done
in farmer-partners’ fields.“Yield trials in farmers’ fields will help them
(farmers) see how improved varieties perform in their (farmers) area,” said
Padolina.In its recent assessment and planning workshop held in Subic Zambales,
7-11 June, Dr. Georgina Vergara, IRRI scientist, reported that as of 2014, the
project has nominated 766 entries for multi-location environment testing (MET).
Among the nominated entries, 206 lines were PhilRice-bred, 488 IRRI lines and
72 GSR lines compared with eight check varieties.The Rice Technical Working
Group (RTWG) also approved 24 new promising inbreds and hybrids developed by
the project.According to Dr. Vergara, more than 2,000 lines were screened for
submergence, 12,000 for salinity, and 80 lines for drought in 2014.The project
is an initiative under the Food Staples Sufficiency Program of DA being
implemented jointly with PhilRice and IRRI in partnership with UP Los Baños, DA
RFOs, state colleges and universities, LGUs, and rice farmers.
AgRiDOC training starts for Vis-Min
participants
Continuing its
objective of enabling the next generation of rice extensionists, Project IPaD
welcomed participants from Visayas and Mindanao to its second batch of training
program titled “Enabling the AgRiDOC: a
new breed of rice extensionists.” The Improving Technology Promotion and
Delivery through Capability Enhancement of the Next Generation of Rice
Extension Professionals and Intermediaries or IPaD is one of the seven
projects under the flagship of the DA’s Food Staples Sufficiency Program. Being
funded by the National Rice Program through the DA-Bureau of Agricultural
Research, it is the only project that deals directly with improving the
agricultural extension system in the Philippines.
A new training program designed for rice
extensionists is one of the ways by which Project IPaD is helping revitalize
the Philippine agricultural extension system. The program’s foundation is now
farm community transformation, not just technology transmission.During the
opening program, Mr. Julian Lapitan, interim head of IRRI partnerships office
and lead of Project IPaD at IRRI said to the trainees: “As extension workers,
your work should not only be limited to transmission, but it should go toward
transformation. And you cannot transform if you yourself are not
transformed.”Director Edmund J. Sana of the National Rice Program challenged
the future AgRiDOCs (Agricultural Development Officers of the Community) to
maximize the opportunity to learn from the training.
“You are here to get more, to increase your
capacity, and be motivated to enjoy your work so that you can deliver,” he
said.Director Sana was instrumental in the realization of the Project IPaD.“The
moment you give justice to your job, that’s when you start to enjoy it; and it
will not be a work anymore if you enjoy it,” he told the participants.“You
(extension workers) have to put it in your hearts to serve our farmers, our
community, and our country,” said Emelita Flores, municipal agriculturist of
Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija. Flores is a three-time Rice Achiever awardee for
outstanding performance in extension. The training has a diverse pool of 25
participants. They are young, age range is 22-41 years old, agricultural
technicians, extension workers, college instructors, staff members of the
Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), and staff members of PhilRice branch
stations. The trainees will undergo 4 months of intensive training that
aims to strengthen their technical competence, nurture values relevant to
development work, and sharpen their leadership, communication, and
entrepreneurial skills.Guiding the program is the curriculum, which was piloted
last season with the Luzon batch. The curriculum is a strong mix of engaging
and experiential learning designed to heighten trainees’ understanding and
appreciation of rice-based farming system and the development processes in
farming communities.The training curriculum consists of six modules:
BeTransformed, AgRiCool, AgRiSurvivors, PalaYcheck and PalaYamanan v2.0, Rise
with Rice, and Be RICEponsible. “I expect to learn many things about rice
production and agriculture in general from this training, so I can better
assist our farmers,” said Jun Rey Samillano, AgRiDOC trainee from ATI-RTC
Region 12.The training runs from 16 June to– 23 October, 2015. Upon graduation,
the AgRiDOCs are expected to help raise the bar of performance in extension in
the Philippines, increase productivity to secure food self-sufficiency, and
help catalyze farm community transformation.Plans for outscaling the project
beyond 2015 are being laid out.
Study identifies most stable varieties
To identify
appropriate varieties with wider or location-specific adaptation, the project
titled Accelerating the development and
adoption of next-generation (Next Gen) rice varieties for major ecosystem in
the Philippines conducted the initial participatory varietal selection
(PVS) in selected sites across 16 regions of the country. PVS entries were
composed of new varieties developed under the DA’s Rice Self-sufficiency
Program implemented in 2009 to 2013 and serving as start-up materials in the
new Food Staples Sufficiency Program under Next Gen.Next Gen aims to use recent
advances in plant breeding and improved computational power to make the country’s
rice breeding program more efficient.PVS is part of Next Gen’s component 2 that
aims to accelerate the adoption of high-yielding rice varieties through a new
multi-environment testing strategy and production of high quality
seeds.“Through PVS, yield trials in farmers’ fields will help them see how
improved varieties perform in their area,” said Thelma F. Padolina, senior
fellow at PhilRice.In the recent assessment and planning workshop held in
Subic, Zambales on 7-11 June 2015, Next Gen identified the preferred varieties
by the farmers after 131 seed kits were deployed across 16 regions in 2014 wet
season.Out of the 86 trials established, 63 sites have valid data and were then
analyzed by Next Gen researchers.According to Dr. Mary Jean Du of the International
Rice Research institute (IRRI), after analyzing data from regional clusters 1,
2 and 3 (composed of Luzon and Visayas regions), the most stable varieties
across sites are the following: NSIC Rc302, inbred variety for irrigated
lowland; RAELINE 3 for rainfed and drought; PSB Rc68 for submergence; and NSIC
Rc330 for saline.In regional cluster 4 (Mindanao), Du reported that the most
stable varieties across sites are the following: NSIC Rc300 (performed best in
Lanao Del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay), NSIC Rc222 and NSIC Rc298 (performed
best in Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental) for irrigated lowland; NSIC Rc192 and
NSIC Rc348 for rainfed; NSIC Rc226 for saline; and PR40146 for
submergence.Varieties RAELINE 3 and PR40146, however, have not been released commercially.Preference
analysis and sensory evaluation of PVS test entries and field day activities
were done as observed during monitoring visits of the Next Gen team to
different PVS sites in 16 regions.The Next Gen project is an initiative under
the Food Staples Sufficiency Program of DA being implemented jointly with
PhilRice and IRRI in partnership with UP Los Baños, DA RFOs, Bureau of Plant
Industry, state colleges and universities, LGUs and rice farmers.
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Desi Scientists Turn to Crop Gene Editing
By
Published: 29th June 2015 04:35 AM
Last
Updated: 29th
June 2015 04:35 AM
CHENNAI: With their ambitious plans
to undertake genetic modification of crops failing to take off as the debate on
the suitability of GM crops remaining inconclusive in the country, scientists
here are looking at ‘gene editing’ to tweak the crop without attracting the ire
of sceptics.
Speaking to Express, Ajay Parida,
executive director of M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, said the Department
of Biotechnology was paving the way for research on gene editing as it entailed
lesser regulations unlike the transgenic crops. “Here, the genes of a plant
variety is edited. This is a non-transgenic method, done without importing
genes from another crop,” he said.
Scientists working on it said that
by editing the genes of rice varieties, they could raise high-yielding disease
resistant and nutritious crops.
Through editing, the gene of rice
plant could be tinkered to improve the biomass-grain output ratio, said Parida.
For instance, if a crop has a biomass of 70 per cent and grains 30 per cent,
gene editing would be carried out to increase the yield to about 35-40 per
cent, he said.
While this won’t have much
difference on the plant, it requires extensive tests to study variations in
culinary characteristics of the variety.
As it does not entail introducing
new, foreign traits to a plant as is the case with a transgenic plant, gene
editing would not have to undergo the stringent checks and regulations like the
GM crops, he said. Unlike transgenic crops, which require antibiotic marker,
gene editing process does not require any such tests.
Gene sequencing of 1,500 plant
varieties have been completed so far, Parida said.
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