Rice exports increase 3.5pc in six months
Tuesday, 03 February 2015 15:29
Posted by Parvez Jabri
ISLAMABAD Rice exports increased by 3.46 percent during the first
half of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last
year.According to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the rice exports
were recorded at $976.784 from July-December (2014-15) compared to the exports
of $944.077 in July-December (2013-14), showing an increase of 3.46 percent.
Among the rice commodities, the exports of basmati rice increased
by 2.63 percent by going up from $294.517 million last year to $302.265 during
the first six months of the current fiscal year.The exports of all other rice
commodities increased by 3.84 percent during the period under review as it went
up from $649.560 million last year to $674.519 million in the current year, the
PBS data revealed.Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the over all exports of
rice witnessed negative growth of 9.17 percent in December 2014 compared to the
exports of December 2013.The rice exports in December 2014 were recorded at
$238.179 million compared to the exports of $262.219 million in December 2013.
On month-on-month basis, the rice exports in December witnessed
increase of 7.68 percent when compare to the exports of $221.197 million in
November 2014.Among the rice commodities, the exports of basmati rice decreased
by 27.10 and 3.29 percent in December 2014 compared to December 2013 and
November 2014 respectively.Similarly, the exports of other rice commodities
decreased by 3.69 percent when compared to the exports of December 2014 and
increased by 10.58 percent when compared to November 2014, the PBS data
revealed.
It is pertinent to mention here that the overall exports from the
country during the first six months of the current fiscal year were recorded at
$12.073 billion compared to the exports of $12.617 billion during the
corresponding period of last year, showing negative growth of 4.31 percent.On
the other hand, the imports into the country increased by 11.68 percent during
the first half of the current fiscal year by going up from $21.671 billion in
July-December (2013-14) to $24.203 billion in July-December (2014-15).
Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2015
Chinese
Firm Joins Local Rice Miller to Bolster Industry
RANGOON — A Burmese rice milling company and the Chinese firm CAMC
Engineering Co. Ltd. have signed a joint venture Memorandum of Understanding to
improve the quality and capacity of rice milling operations in Burma, according
to Thaung Win, the secretary of the Myanmar Rice Millers Association.Members of
the Myanmar Rice Millers Association formed the Myanmar Rice Mill Company in
2012 with the aim of supporting the development of Burma’s rice milling
industry.
Both the Myanmar Rice Mill Company
and its Chinese partner enter into the joint venture aiming to boost Burmese
rice exports, in part by improving the quality of its rice as well as the
milling process.
“It [the Myanmar Rice Millers Association] is only a nonprofit
organization so we can’t do it [joint ventures] directly, that’s why rice
millers formed the company—so that they can work with foreign companies,” said
Thaung Win, who is also the director of the Myanmar Rice Mill Company.
“We’re going to discuss the details of how we can form the JV
company in line with the Myanmar Investment Commission’s rules,” he told The
Irrawaddy on Tuesday, adding that the MoU was signed late last month.Under the
terms of the MoU, the joint venture will also provide loans to rice millers and
work to upgrade rice storage facilities that currently leave a large portion of
the nation’s harvest susceptible to spoilage through exposure to humidity and
other elements, Thaung Win said.“If we can form the JV, we will invest equal
shares and we can support local rice millers.
That will include loans,
technical support and rice quality control,” he said.“As we have very old mills
in our country, we need technical improvements from foreign investors. We do
expect that if we can control the quality of rice, the price of exported rice will
also increase,” Thaung Win said.According to a World Bank report in June, Burma
could greatly increase its agricultural exports if it improves the quality of
rice by investing in the expansion and upgrade of domestic rice mills.
The report said that since economic and political reforms began in
2011, rice exports have significantly risen, but in the past two years export
volumes have leveled off at about 1.3 million tons annually.The World Bank said
much of the rice grown in Burma is of low quality and unfit for export to
high-value markets such as the European Union, where Burmese products are
exempt from import tariffs under a preferential trade scheme linked to Burma’s
“least developed country” status.
Chit Khine, chairman of the Myanmar Rice Federation, said he
welcomed the MoU.“Chinese companies have been very interested to work in the
rice industry for years, CAMC has also worked here for years. That’s why they
have mutual understanding and believe they can improve the rice industry,” Chit
Khine said.“If we compare the quality of mills here and in Thailand, it’s quite
different. We only have very low-quality mills in Myanmar,” he said.
The Myanmar Agribusiness Public Co. Ltd. (MAPCO), whose chairman
is Chit Khine, is also working with a foreign firm to improve the rice
industry’s competitiveness, entering into a joint venture with Japan’s
Mitsubishi to build more rice mills, improve quality control measures and
increase exports.According to Myanmar Rice Millers Association figures, there
are more than 2,000 mills nationwide, most of which operate at a capacity of 30
tons to 50 tons per day, with few mills capable of outputting at the 200- to
300-ton level that is typical of more competitive rice exporters.
Burma’s agriculture sector is the country’s largest employer and
70 percent of all Burmese live in rural areas, but under the previous military
regime agricultural productivity languished and rice exports fell sharply
compared with the 1960s.Image: Workers at a rice
mill in the town of Kyaiklat in Irrawaddy Division take a break from the day’s
labor in May 2012. (Photo: Reuters)
Japan Announces 7th SBS Tender in FY 2014
Announcement: 3 February 2015
Tender: 17 February 2015
Quantity:
Total
30,000 MT
Whole-kernel (brown or milled) 27,000 MT
Broken (milled) 3,000 MT
Shipping
period: 15 August 2015
USA Rice
Federation
CME Group/Closing Rough Rice Futures
|
CME Group (Preliminary): Closing Rough Rice Futures for February 3
|
March 2015
|
$10.385
|
+ $0.080
|
|
May 2015
|
$10.645
|
+ $0.090
|
|
July 2015
|
$10.900
|
+ $0.110
|
|
September 2015
|
$10.750
|
+ $0.160
|
|
November 2015
|
$10.920
|
+ $0.160
|
|
January 2016
|
$11.010
|
+ $0.160
|
|
March 2016
|
$11.010
|
+ $0.160
|
|
USA Rice
federation
Rice Update Indonesia: In Search of Rice Self-Sufficiency
03 February 2015
Subjects |Rice Self-Sufficiency, Winarno Tohir, KTNA, Farmers and Fishermen's Society, Rice Import, Rice Consumption,Rice Production, Rice Price, Rice Industry, Joko Widodo, Farmers, Bulog, Raskin, Poverty, Rice
The price of rice in several
Indonesian regions has risen by between 17 to 23 percent to IDR 8,500-9,000 per
kilogram as
rice production at
the start of the year has not been able to meet rice demand. In January 2015,
Indonesian rice production stood at 2 million tons, whereas demand reached 2.5
million tons. Inflation of rice is a sensitive issue in Indonesia because it
jeopardizes declining poverty rates as poorer segments of Indonesian society
spend over half of their total disposable income on food items, primarily rice.
Winarno Tohir, Chairman of the Farmers and Fishermen's Society (KTNA), said
that domestic rice prices soared at the start of the year not only due to
reduced output in January (partly the result of floods in harvest areas) but
also because the central government stopped distributing subsidized rice to the
poor (through itsRaskin program) in November.
This program was stopped by
President Joko Widodo, who assumed office in October 2014, as it was estimated
that about 30 percent of the subsidized rice went missing before it could reach
the 16 million poorest Indonesian families. A preliminary investigation
conducted by the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) signalled
that state agency Bulog, which managed the annual USD $1.7 billion
Raskin program, did not run the program
efficiently. To support the poorest Indonesian families, the government now
sends electronic money (e-money) to the families’ bank accounts.
However, Tohir said that current
price pressures will ease starting from mid-February as rice production is
expected to touch 3.6 million tons this month. Rice production will further
improve in March and April as almost all Indonesian regions enter the harvest
season. Therefore Tohir does not believe that the government should intervene
in the market to push rice prices down.
Rice Production Indonesia:
|
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
|
Indonesian Rice
Production¹
|
60.3
|
64.4
|
66.4
|
65.4
|
69.1
|
71.3
|
70.6²
|
73.4²
|
¹ numbers are in millions of unmilled tons of rice
² indicates a forecast
Sources:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Indonesian Ministry
of Agriculture
Reportedly, Indonesia holds the world’s largest per capita rice
consumption at about 140 kilograms of rice per person per year. Therefore, it
is not surprizing that Southeast Asia’s largest economy is eager to reach
self-sufficiency in consumption of this staple food crop (only having succeeded
in the mid-1980s and 2008-2009).
The current Joko Widodo administration has the ambitious target to
reach rice self-sufficiency by 2017 through providing subsidized fertilizers
and seeds to Indonesian farmers and by rehabilitating one million hectares of
tertiary irrigation channels for paddy production, but also by raising the
government rice purchasing price (HPP) by roughly 10 percent to IDR 7,260 per
kilogram in January 2015.
Through this higher price,
Indonesian rice farmers generate more income and are protected from low market
prices. The central government targets to increase domestic rice production by
4 percent to 73.4 million tons from an estimated 70.6 million tons last year.
If this target is met, then there will be no need for rice imports from Vietnam
and Thailand. Last year, Bulog still needed to import about 425,000 tons of
rice to meet domestic demand. According to information from the Indonesian
Trade Ministry, Bulog currently holds 1.4 million tons of (commercial) rice
reserves, an amount which is sufficient for up to six months.
Poverty in Indonesia
Relative and absolute poverty have declined
steadily in Indonesia over the past decade. Based on the latest data from
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) there were a total of 27.73 million Indonesians
categorized as poor, or 10.96 percent of the total population, in September
2014.
Indonesian Poverty and Inequality Statistics:
|
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
|
Relative Poverty
(% of population)
|
17.8
|
16.6
|
15.4
|
14.2
|
13.3
|
12.5
|
11.7
|
11.5
|
11.0
|
|
Absolute Poverty
(in millions)
|
39
|
37
|
35
|
33
|
31
|
30
|
29
|
29
|
28
|
|
Gini Coefficient/
Gini
Ratio
|
-
|
0.35
|
0.35
|
0.37
|
0.38
|
0.41
|
0.41
|
0.41
|
-
|
Sources: World Bank and
Statistics Indonesia
PHL hybrid rice being studied for Papua New Guinea cultivation
A PAPUA NEW
GUINEA coffee company is testing hybrid rice from the Philippines for
cultivation in that country.
Tropical rice hybrids are seen as a sustainable way
to boost yields. -- BW File
Photo
Hybrid rice producer SL Agritech Corp. said in a
statement yesterday that PNG Coffee Ltd. wants to pioneer commercial production
of hybrid rice in its home country.Frisco M. Malabanan, a consultant of SL
Agritech, said “PNG Coffee Ltd is a coffee exporter and has vast tracts of
land” in Papua New Guinea.L Agritech said that a private New Guinea company is
already conducting a pilot test on growing various hybrid seeds.Village Garden
PNG Ltd. opened a demonstration farm for interested Papua New Guinea parties.
“We have already created massive awareness in PNG for
hybrid rice. What we are proving is that based on results, the rice can be
grown there,” Mr. Malabanan said.“Some importers have been saying the rice
can’t grow in PNG, but we’re proving them wrong. Our rice grains are already
filled,” he added.Harvest of the pilot crops will be done in March, while yield
is expected to reach at least seven metric tons per hectare.Apart from PNG
Coffee, government officials particularly from Papua New Guinea’s East Sepik
province are also expressing interest in rice production.
Joseph Yopy Yopy, board member of the Wosera Gawik district, has visited the
farm.The province has 200,000 to 250,000 hectares of land that may potentially
be planted to hybrid rice.SL Agritech Chairman Henry Lim Bon Liong noted that
this makes the Philippines a contributor to Papua New Guinea’s agriculture
sector.“We are happy that the Philippines is becoming a part of the history of
agriculture and rice sector in a country like PNG that really needs to have a
rice supply of its own,” said Mr. Lim.
SL Agritech said that land in PNG is barely touched by modern agriculture so
rice may still be grown organically or with little fertilizer.“The hybrid rice
planting is also combining efficient agriculture technologies with the
‘sprinkler’ irrigation system that substantially saves on water,” SL Agritech
said, noting that the system was adapted from Australia.Unlike the Philippines,
PNG does not have national irrigation systems but it has source of fresh water
from many rivers.“PNG has been noting the significant contribution that the
Philippines is making to its rice sector despite the fact that it has its own
National Agricultural Research Institute,” SL Agritech said.
EPA and Corps Withdraw WOTUS Interpretive Rule
WASHINGTON, DC -- Yielding to heavy criticism
from farm groups, as well as government personnel trying to operate under the
rule, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers have
withdrawn The Interpretive Rule, a controversial list of agricultural
conservation practices that would be exempted from the proposed Waters of the
United States (WOTUS) rule. Both
agencies signed a memorandum of understanding on January 29 that immediately
withdrew the rule. The Interpretive Rule
was released as a final rule in March 2014 along with the proposed WOTUS
rule. Publicized as non-controversial,
The Interpretive Rule listed 56 conservation practices that, if completed to
Natural Resources Conservation Service standards, would be exempt from Clean
Water Act permitting requirements.
"Unfortunately the list left out many
practices, including several used by rice producers, and ostensibly added what
many farmers consider to be normal farming practices, such as fencing and brush
clearing, to the list," said Ben Mosely, vice president of government
affairs for the USA Rice Federation, which had also been critical of the
rule. "While the withdrawal of The
Interpretive Rule is a step in the right direction, we now turn our attention
to the proposed WOTUS rule itself that seeks to clarify and expand the
jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act."
WOTUS is expected to be published as a final
rule in March or April of 2015, and Mosely said USA Rice has significant
concerns, particularly with regard to the rule's proposed regulation of
irrigation ditches and canals, as well as making any water in a flood plain
jurisdictional water requiring permits to work in.
Contact: Steve Hensley (703) 236-1445
USA Rice Federation
Crop Insurance Programs Targeted in New Obama Budget Proposal
WASHINGTON, DC -- Yesterday President Obama
released his proposed fiscal year 2016 budget, which was slated as a means to
provide tax breaks for the middle class and increase spending on government
programs, with spending cuts and tax increases just sufficient to control the
nation's deficit. Among the areas
targeted for cuts in the agricultural community was the new crop insurance
program.
The
President's budget cuts nearly $16 billion from crop insurance over the next
ten years, mostly through premium subsidy reductions for revenue policies
including harvest price options.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack supports the President's
recommendation and attributes the need to cut crop insurance to falling
commodity prices and the realization that the 2014 Farm Bill will likely be
more expensive than originally thought."I'm taking a look at the next 12
to 18 months and what we see is clearly the possibility that payouts could be
$1 [billion] to $1.5 billion higher than anticipated," Vilsack said.
With commodity
prices low throughout the United States, Representative Mike Conaway (R-TX),
chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, called the Obama budget an
"ill-timed proposal" that would "jeopardize the ability of
producers to insure their crops in a climate of collapsing crop prices."USA
Rice Federation Rice Producers' Group Chairman John Owen echoed Conaway's
sentiment, saying "Looking for budget savings through additional cuts to
crop insurance programs not only jeopardizes the individual farmer's economic
viability, it impacts the food security of our country."
Contact: Evan Spencer (703) 236-1476
Vietnam to export 240,000 tons of
rice to Malaysia
Thanh Nien
News
Farm hands
harvest rice outside the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho. Photo credit: Bloomberg
Japanese rice
brings prosperity, stability to Vietnam farmers
Vietnam's rice
subsidies benefit foreign consumers, not local producers: experts
Vietnam will
sell 240,000 tons of five-percent-broken rice to Malaysia, local media reported
Tuesday.The rice will begin arriving in April, according to Lam Anh Tuan,
director of Thinh Phat Company.The firm, based in the Mekong Delta province of
Ben Tre, is one of many that will help fill the contract. Tuan told Thoi Bao
Kinh Te Saigon Online that the recent deal would prove more lucrative than
prior foreign contracts, but declined to disclose specific numbers.Oryza, an
international journal on rice science, cited unidentified Vietnamese exporters
as estimating that the deal was struck at around US$385 per ton.
Vietnam’s
five-percent broken rice price hit roughly $360 per ton toward the end of last
week, compared to $405 per ton being paid for Thai rice, $400 per ton being
paid for Indian rice, $415 per ton for Burmese rice, and $360 per ton for
Pakistani rice, according to Oryza.Traders in the Mekong Delta said the deal
was unlikely to help increase the price of Vietnamese rice given how small the
deal is and that it is expected to take eight months to complete.Malaysia
ranked as Vietnam's third-biggest rice buyer in 2014 after China and the
Philippines.The nation bought 470,000 tons of Vietnamese rice last year.
http://www.thanhniennews.com/business/vietnam-to-export-240000-tons-of-rice-to-malaysia-38356.html
Rice Federation Votes, Approves Export Fee
The newly formed Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) voted Monday to
require its members pay an export fee of $0.50 per ton of long-grain white rice
and $1 per ton of fragrant rice in order to raise money for educating farmers
and marketing Cambodian rice overseas, according to Sok Puthyvuth, the
federation’s president.“Finally our members decided on the fee. After this, we
will prepare plans and programs,” Mr. Puthyvuth said.
He said CRF needs $777,000 to implement its “action plan,” which
includes television advertisements, coordinating seed production and raising awareness
about potential crop issues.“Previously when we had ideas, we always needed to
ask for help from other organizations, which makes our work slow because we
needed to wait for…approvals,” Mr. Puthyvuth said.un Yeng, secretary-general of
CRF, said about 25 to 30 percent of the money would be used for CRF operations,
including staff salaries, while the rest would be used to develop an
international market for rice exporters.
“[M]ostly, we will use the funds to help push the sale of rice,”
he said.Last year, rice exports reached 387,061 tons, well short of the
government’s goal of exporting 1 million tons this year.
Correction: A previous version of this article
incorrectly stated that CRF members would be required to pay $0.75 per ton for
both long-grain white rice and fragrant rice.
World Rice Production 2014/2015
January 2015
This month the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
estimates that the World Rice Production 2014/2015 will be 475.47 million metric tons,
around 0.23 million tons more than the previous month's projection.
Rice Production last year (*) was
476.96 million tons. This year's 475.47 estimated million tons could represent
a decrease of 1.49 million tons or a 0.31% in rice production around the globe.
Rice
Production by Country
(Values in Metric Tons)
China: 144,500,000
India: 102,000,000
Others: 38,459,000
Indonesia: 36,500,000
Bangladesh: 34,600,000
Vietnam: 28,250,000
Thailand: 20,500,000
Philippines: 12,200,000
Burma: 12,150,000
Brazil: 8,300,000
Japan: 7,700,000
United States: 7,068,000
Pakistan: 6,500,000
Cambodia: 4,900,000
Egypt: 4,500,000
Korea, South: 4,240,000
Nepal: 3,100,000
Next Update will be February 10,
2015.
https://www.worldriceproduction.com/?gclid=CLex8L-NyMMCFdMatAodREQARQ
Politics
No More Foreign Rice,Tomato in Nigeria If Buhari Becomes President
Discussion
in 'Political News' started by Jules, Yesterday at 8:35 AM.
Muhammadu
Buhari, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC has
promised to stop importation of rice and tomato if elected President of
Nigeria; PUNCH reports. Buhari made the promise in a meeting with the Organised
Private Sector in Lagos. The ban he said is to enhance local production of the
products.''How can Nigeria be importing virtually everything? 
How can we be importing even tomatoes? If I am elected, basic items
like rice and tomatoes, which we have the capacity to produce, will be banned
from being imported'', Buhari said. The investors meeting had all the key
members of the APC in attendance and was hosted by the Lagos State Governor,
Mr. Babatunde Fashola.
#Fashola
#APC #Lagos #Buhari
Thai
Rice Exporters Expect Exports To Drop To 10 Mln Tonnes This Year
BANGKOK,
Feb 3 (Bernama) -- The Thai Rice Exporters Association (TREA) expects this
year's rice exports to drop to 10 million tonnes, worth US$4.95 billion,
compared with 11.06 million tonnes, valued at US$5.43 billion, exported in
2014.The lower exports was due to increased competitiveness in the rice market,
fluctuation in the exchange rate and lack of clear strategies to increase
development of Thai rice, said TREA President Chareon Laothammatas.
He said the price of Thai rice was still high compared with that
offered by other rice exporters and buyers had a wide variety to choose from
Myanmar and Cambodia.The strengthening baht and the weakening of other
currencies has also resulted in the price of Thai rice increasing US$25 per
tonne in January.He expressed concern that countries like Nigeria, which
usually buy rice from Thailand, may turn to other rice producers to source
their supply.
--
BERNAMA
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/bu/newsbusiness.php?id=1105922
Several
negative factors face rice exports this year, industry group says
PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
THE NATION February 4, 2015 1:00 am
WITH
no monetary policy to facilitate exports, higher competition among
rice-exporting countries and a lack of development in the rice industry to
lower production costs, Thai rice shipments will face a tougher time in the
coming years, despite the plan to release huge quantities from government stocks."Thailand's
rice will face a tougher export market due to higher competition, fluctuating
exchange rates and no clear strategy to increase development of Thai
rice," Charoen Laothamatas, president of the Thai Rice Exporters
Association (TREA), said yesterday.
The
association expects Thailand to ship out 10 million tonnes of rice valued at
US$4.95 billion (Bt160 billion) this year, falling from last year's 11.06
million tonnes worth $5.43 billion.Thai rice is still expensive, while the
market has a greater variety of sources to choose from, including Myanmar and
Cambodia.The government should put in place a monetary policy to facilitate the
export sector, since the baht's volatility has handicapped Thai rice sales in
the global market, Charoen said.While the baht is strengthening, other
countries are taking measures to weaken their currencies.
Thai
rice has gone up by $25 per tonne, because of the baht appreciating from 33 to
32.20 against the US dollar last month.With fluctuating currencies and lower
oil prices, some countries will shun Thailand and turn to cheap rice from other
sources, he said.
Nigeria,
which is the Kingdom's largest rice customer, could switch to India or other
countries because the price of Thai rice has skyrocketed, while Nigerians have
lower purchasing power because of the low price of oil, a key export commodity
in that West African country.Korbsook Iamsuri, honorary president of the
association, said the government should closely monitor currencies and focus on
weakening the exchange rate, since exports are still the country's major
economic engine.
High
production costs
To
raise Thai export competitiveness, weakening the currency would help, as well
as lowering the interest rate to help small traders. With high production
costs, Thailand's rice-export competency will continue to drop, she said.In the
latest study by the Agriculture Ministry, the cost of |production for the main
rice crop was Bt10,800 per tonne and for |the second crop Bt9,100, while the
market price is about Bt8,500. Vietnam's production cost is Bt3,500-Bt4,000.The
TREA called for long-term and sustainable measures to help lower the production
costs for farmers.
For
this year, it sees Thailand continuing to be the world's largest rice exporter,
as it has plenty of inventory, while its price is not too high now that the
elected government has been overthrown and its subsidy measure has ended.Besides
negative factors, some positive factors for Thai rice exports are droughts,
which will cause rice output to fall 30 per cent for this year's second crop,
and government-to-government deals.On average, Thai 5-per-cent white rice will
be quoted at $405 per tonne.
This could be marked up or down slightly this
year on swings in the baht's value. The comparable price in Vietnam is about
$355, while India's rice is $380.However, the TREA anticipates that the
government will be able to release only about 3 million tonnes of rice from its
stocks, which would be much lower than the target of 10 million tonnes.
Chookiat
Ophaswongse, honorary president of the TREA, said the government would not be
able to release huge volumes as expected because of tougher competition in the
market, while the export sector would not grow as strongly as last year.According
to the US Department of Agriculture, Vietnam is expected to export 6.7 million
tonnes this year, up from 6.5 million tonnes in 2014. India is projected to
export 8.7 million tonnes, down from 10.5 million tonnes.
China
will still be the world's largest importer, buying about 4.3 million tonnes of
rice this year from overseas, up from 3.9 million tonnes last year.Next will be
Nigeria with 3.5 |million tonnes, up from 3 million tonnes last year, and the
Philippines with 1.7 million tonnes, the same as last year.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Several-negative-factors-face-rice-exports-this-ye-30253308.html
Nigeria:
120,000 Rice Farmers to Receive Ges Fertiliser in Kano
Kano--No
fewer than 120, 000 rice farmers in Kano State are to receive subsidised
fertiliser for irrigation from the Federal Government under the Growth
Enhancement Scheme, GES.Alhaji Garba Bichi, the Secretary of All Farmers
Association of Nigeria, AFAN, made this known yesterday in Kano in an interview
with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.
Bichi
said the distribution of the assorted fertilisers and seeds had commenced in 48
designated redemption centres across the 44 local government areas of the
state.
According
to him, each farmer will have two bags of NPK and a bag of Urea fertilizer, as
well as 25kg of rice seed at the subsidized rate of N9,000."The
distribution will commence today (Monday) at all the redemption centres in the
state on receipt of short message service alert on their handsets", he
said.
Download/View
above news in pdf format,just click the next link:
The USDA
Post has estimated Japan to import around 700,000 tons of rice in 2015, up
about 8% from an estimated 650,000 ton in 2014 due to an expected decline in
production. Based on production data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries (MAFF), the Post reports that the 2014 rice production declined
about 2% to around 7.679 million tons from around 7.832 million tons in 2013.
The decline is attributed to a decline in the planting area by about 1.5% y/y
to around 1.573 million hectares.
