Rice News Headlines...
·
A new Rice variety Stay Green Rice
developed by Genetics Department, Hazara University Pakistan
·
Why Basmati is down
·
Rice meet
·
Union Minister Announces Two
Agriculture Research Centres for State
·
PhilRice observes rice awareness
month
·
Editorial: Politically charged
import
·
Govt strengthens prevention of
commodity price fixing
·
Rice export deals hit record level
in October
·
Water price bursts rice bubble
·
Choice for Vietnam rice brand still
in dispute
·
500,000-ton Cuban market would be
‘beneficial’ to U.S. rice farmers
·
Thailand to gain from lower rice
supply
·
Weak ringgit may push up RICE PRICE
·
Rice prices may shoot up, says
Assocham study
·
A model for APEC: Innovative
entrepreneurship for inclusive agribusiness
·
Rice procurement by govt agencies up
25%
·
USA Rice Visits UK Trade with Eye to
Returning U.S. Rice to Shelves
·
11/17/2015 Arkansas Farm Bureau
Daily Commodity Report
·
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices
Open-November 17
·
Commodity Report-Nov. 16
·
APEDIA Commodity News from India
·
CME Group/Closing Rough Rice
Futures
·
Shawarma the Syrian way at
restaurant Reyan
·
VU celebrates Diwali
News Detail...
Dr. Fida Muhammad Abbasi,
Associate Professor Department of Genetics
Hazara University Mansehra have developed STAY GREEN RICE for grain quality Drought
stress and resistance to Bacterial blight. He is PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR for the
project.for More project detail you can visit on following website.
http://103.240.220.69/dost/Evaluation-of-STAY-GREEN-RICE-for-grain-quality-drought-stress-and-resistance-to-Bacterial-blight.php
Why
Basmati is down
The world rice market is growing at 12.2
percent annually and Pakistan’s share in this market is increasing at a rate of
18 percent, opens an SBP report titled “Basmati Rice Value Chain in Pakistan.”
However, the report concedes that this is due to the demand for our coarse rice
in low-end markets, while the superior Basmati breed continues to suffer. As per the report, the share of
Basmati rice in total rice production in Pakistan has gone down from 74 percent
in 2008 to 50 percent last season.
The reason for this drop in production has
been, among other things, due to the illegal adoption of the Indian variety,
Pusa. mall farmers are adopting the
Pusa variety as it opens an opportunity to grow a third crop between rice and
wheat. This variety gives a superior yield, consumes less water and grows in a
short duration. However, this breed is illegal in Pakistan, and any concrete
reason for it being outlawed was absent from the report; an industry source
told BR Research the seed is not registered and not approved by the KSK Rice
Institute, saying they “don’t do anything themselves and won’t let progress
happen either.” Indeed, a lack of research and development is a key reason for
the decline of Basmati exports, no matter who you talk to. Although the size of
the international Basmati market is not mentioned in the report, an industry
source said that it may be around $6-6.8 billion (7-8 million tons @ $850/ton).
Two million tons of Basmati are grown annually
in Pakistan, of which around 0.6 million tons are exported. This number used to
be a lot higher, but lack of research and no incentives have left the industry
behind, while our favorite neighbor India has stolen the show. ndia has hybrid seeds which give
exactly twice the yield of our seeds. Their inputs – water, electricity,
fertilizer – are also heavily subsidized by their government. An industry
source added that India flooding the market is the reason why international
rice prices are so low. He added that India has snatched key Basmati markets
from Pakistan, such as Iran, and continues to penetrate the international
scene. Domestically, an important issue highlighted in the report was that of the
middleman; around 80 percent of farmers sell their produce to commission agents
(Arthi) in the Mandi.
A
profitability analysis revealed that the resource-poor farmer who is dependent
on Arthi for credit and input supply has a profitability of Rs1539 per acre,
while the mill-driven business model (contract farming), where both small and
large farms are contracted by the mills, carries a much higher profitability of
Rs54012 per acre. So, credit facilities need to be provided to the small
farmers so they aren’t exploited by middlemen, while contract farming needs to
be adopted on a larger scale. On the production front, there are issues in
terms of water scarcity, outdated planting and harvesting methods, electricity
and gas outages, lack of technology, high cost of inputs and low yields. For an
industry that is the second-highest exports of our country, these are a lot of
issues that need to be addressed!
Rice meet
600 scientists to present research papers
About 600 rice scientists will be presenting
research papers at the three-day international rice symposium with theme –
‘Rice science for global food and nutritional security’ being organised by the
Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR) from Nov. 18-20. Union Minister
Bandaru Dattatreya, Director Generals of ICAR, IRRI, ICRISAT, Vice-Chancellors
of farm universities will also be attending, a press release said.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-telangana/rice-meet/article7886036.ece
Union Minister
Announces Two Agriculture Research Centres for State
By
Published: 17th November 2015 04:47 AM
Last Updated: 17th November 2015 04:47 AM
VIJAYAWADA:
Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh announced to set up aquaculture
institutions and a couple of agricultural research centres in the state, after
an hour-long discussion with chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and other
ministers in Vijayawada on Monday.He laid the foundation stone for ANGRAU
campus in LAM Farms. Impressed with the performance of the state in aquaculture
and congratulating AP for its numero uno status in shrimp exports, which makes
up to 46 per cent of the total shrimp exports from the country, Radha Mohan
announced to set up National Breed Bank for improvement of Rohu, Catla and
Pangas fish breeds. He wanted the state to do well in fish production and
exports as well.
The National
Breed Bank (NBB) will come up in any of the 50 seed farms in the state and a
scientific team from the Centre will shortly visit AP to complete the process,
he said and announced to establish Breeder Multiplication Centre for L-Vannamei
(a popular variety of prawn), which will help produce more seed.The existing
unit of Central Institute of Fisheries Education at Balabhadrapuram in Kakinada
will be upgraded into regional centre, he said and announced Centre for
Brackish Water Aquaculture regional centre for which the state government has
to provide necessary land anywhere along its long cost (at present, the centre
is located in Chennai). Radha Mohan also sanctioned Central Institute of
Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) at Penamaluru in Vijayawada (the CIFA is located
only in Bhubaneswar).In agriculture sector, he sanctioned Central Rice Research
Institute (CRRI) sub-centre in Srikakulam district (now present in Bhubaneswar)
and assured Naidu to look into the proposal for setting up Indian Institute of
Rice Research in West Godavari district.
The
Union minister responded positively to the CM’s request to consider the state
for implementation of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana. Under the scheme, the
Centre provides Rs 30,000 per acre for three years. Since farmers stand to
benefit greatly from the scheme, the state government had been requesting the
Central government for implementation of the scheme for some time now.The CM
sought Centre’s aid with regard to drought, micro-irrigation and oil palm
issues. He also explained the efforts taken up by the state to overcome drought
like river interlinking, micro irrigation, neeru-chettu, etc.As regards oil
palm crisis, Chandrababu asked for a clear announcement by the Centre and urged
the latter to announce a price as per the market conditions. State agriculture
minister P Pulla Rao stressed the need for regulation of palm oil import and
suggested that import tax be increased.Responding to this, Radha Mohan assured
that the committee concerned will review the situation and take necessary steps
in the next 10 days.Union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, advisor
to the state government (communication) Parakala Prabhakar and higher officials
of agriculture and allied sectors were present.
http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/andhra_pradesh/Union-Minister-Announces-Two-Agriculture-Research-Centres-for-State/2015/11/17/article3132106.ece
PhilRice observes rice awareness month
November 17, 2015
By Merlito G. Edale Jr.
SAN MATEO, Isabela, November 17 (PIA) – The Philippine Rice
Research Institute (Philrice) here joined in the nationwide observance of
National Rice Awareness Month with the theme “BROWN4GOOD or Be Riceponsible In
Your Own Way Now 4 Good”.Democrito Rebong II, PhilRice – Isabela station
manager, said the annual celebration is an opportunity to recognize and promote
rice as the staple food of Filipinos.He said the month-long activity also aims
to encourage every Filipino to do their share of responsibility by valuing
every grain of rice and eating healthier rice, like brown or unpolished rice
and rice mixes to benefit themselves, other consumers, rice farmers and the
country to achieve rice sufficiency.
“Brown rice or unpolished rice are rich in vitamins and
minerals and have high fiber content and oil,” he said, adding that eating such
rice may reduce cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, heart diseases,
hypercholesterolemia, and stroke.Rebong urged consumers to avoid rice wastage
in order to help achieve rice sufficiency in the country.He said families
should just prepare the exact amount of rice for their daily consumption and
should not go beyond their capacity.Meanwhile, PhilRICE-Isabela, in
collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Rice Research
Institute, Bureau of Plant Industry, National Irrigation Administration and the
local government units, will be showing the different brown rice varieties and
other rice varieties as part of this year's lined-up activities.
(ALM/MGE/PIA-2/Isabela)
http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/481447721708/philrice-observes-rice-awareness-month#sthash.wQuHIzhF.dpuf
Editorial:
Politically charged import
The Jakarta Post | Editorial | Tue, November 17 2015, 8:47 AM
The country’s failure to secure its rice-import
target of 1.5 million tons from its traditional suppliers — Thailand and
Vietnam — to beef up its stocks shows just how high a politically charged
commodity this staple food is and how confusingly inaccurate the national data
has been on rice output and consumption. Many analysts cautioned early this year that
the government should import rice because domestic production would fall owing
to the impact of the El Niño weather phenomenon. But President Joko “Jokowi”
Widodo, apparently influenced by the optimistic output estimate by the
Agriculture Ministry and hesitating to backtrack on his own political promises
to stop imports, insisted that domestic stocks were still fairly adequate.
Only after rice prices continued to increase
did the President eventually relent to allowing imports. But stocks in the
biggest exporting countries — Thailand and Vietnam — had run out as several
other Southeast Asian countries, hit by the prolonged drought, had also
replenished their stocks with imports. Allowing
rice prices to continue to rise as a way to give higher earnings to farmers, as
several politicians have suggested, goes entirely against common sense and will
instead only hurt the majority of the people, 80 percent of whom are net-rice consumers
themselves.Data at the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said that more than 75
percent of rice growers were net-rice consumers.
High prices mostly hit the poorest group
because almost 30 percent of their household spending goes to rice. Worse still,
because of the country’s long and porous coastline, close to several major rice
exporting ports in Thailand and Vietnam, it is nearly impossible for our
domestic rice prices to be kept much higher than border prices without causing
import smuggling.The present rice-pricing policy is fairly adequate because it
manages rice prices within an annually reviewed range of floor and ceiling
prices to ensure affordable prices for consumers and allows for fair margins
for rice farmers. Importing rice only as a contingency measure has been
considered fairly adequate as well. But this price mechanism must be based on
fairly accurate data on national production and consumption.
The biggest challenge is to ensure that the
government-controlled State Logistics Agency (Bulog) has enough funds for
domestic rice procurement whenever needed to defend floor prices and maintain
enough stocks to release to the market whenever prices tend to rise far above
the fixed ceiling. Yet more
important is that Bulog, the only licensed importer of medium-quality rice,
should be given the mandate to quietly carry out imports whenever necessary to
beef up domestic stocks without having to go through the noisy process of
gaining a political consensus.The problem is that Indonesia, given its consumption
of over 35 million tons of rice a year, could easily turn into the world’s
single largest importer whenever its own production declines as it did this
year due to the impact of the prolonged drought. But there are only a few rice
exporting countries
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/17/editorial-politically-charged-import.html#sthash.KOhHFTxJ.dpuf
Govt
strengthens prevention of commodity price fixing
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Business | Mon, November 16 2015, 5:31
PM
Business News
The government has reiterated its commitment to
increasing market monitoring to manage prices of staple commodities, including
beef and rice, by eradicating price-fixing practices.Business Competition
Supervisory Commission (KPPU) head Syarkawi Rauf said President Joko “Jokowi”
Widodo had asked the commission to focus on the monitoring of beef and
rice.Syarkawi said the commission had identified five to seven major players in
national rice production in 11 provinces, including Central Java and North
Sumatra, as the players could possibly dictate the price of rice in the
market.“We will continue to monitor them. If they do anything that indicates
anti-competitive practices, we will take necessary action,” Syarkawi told
reporters late last week.
He further explained that with the limited
number of players, it would be easy for price fixing to occur. He said the commission would impose sanctions
on unlawful players, if found guilty, ranging from administrative punishment to
recommending that their permits be revoked.The price and scarcity of rice as
Indonesia’s main staple food has been a major concern this year following
decreasing rice stocks owing to the prolonged season as a result of the El Niño
weather phenomenon.
The government has been struggling to secure the
country’s stocks, which continue to run low, partially through imports, as Vice
President Jusuf Kalla confirmed that more than 1 million tons of rice from
Thailand and Vietnam had begun entering Indonesian ports.Kalla expressed
concern for the possibility of inflated prices with the late harvest, and that
the country needed to secure enough stocks to survive, with a vacuum to fill
around 2.5 million tons.Rice prices rose by more than 30 percent in February
this year. The government attributed the abnormal price movement partially to
the “rice mafia”.The government has appointed independent firm PT Sucofindo to
audit at least 14,000 warehouses nationwide amid suspicion of illegal
stockpiling and reselling.
Warehouse owners found guilty of illegal
stockpiling could face up to five years’ imprisonment and fines of Rp 50
billion (US$3.70 million).Jokowi previously insisted that stocks, though
running low, remained adequate, as he aimed for the country to be
self-sufficient in key commodities such as rice, corn, soybeans and
sugar.Meanwhile, Syarkawi also said that the commission had tried 32
feedlotters allegedly involved in cartel-like practices last month that
contributed to soaring beef prices, which at one point rose to Rp 130,000 per
kilogram from the usual Rp 90,000 after Idul Fitri. He said the feedlotters were found to have
reduced the supply of cattle to be slaughtered from 30 head of cattle daily to
eight head of cattle, leading to scarcity.
“This is where KPPU steps in to investigate the
cartel-like practice on beef,” Syarkawi said.Agriculture Minister Amran
Sulaiman signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Friday with the local
governments of six provinces, including Jakarta, West Nusa Tenggara, East Java
and South Sulawesi, through which the leaders agreed to cooperate in securing
and monitoring the supply of staple commodities, including rice, beef and
corn.In its first phase, the MoU will focus on securing the supply of beef in
Jakarta, which needed 60,000 head of cattle per month, according to Amran, from
the other five provinces. The ministry would use the new livestock vessel
recently officiated by the President to transport as many as 500 head of cattle
to Jakarta, said Amran. (fsu)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/16/govt-strengthens-prevention-commodity-price-fixing.html
Rice export deals hit record level in
October
Illustrative
image (Source: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – Exporters signed contracts to sell nearly 2 million tonnes of rice
overseas in October, exceeding the figure of the same period last year by over
22 percent and a record volume for one month.The outcome is attributable to the
winning of bids to sell more than 1.5 million tonnes of rice to the
Philippines, Indonesia, and Cuba.According to the Vietnam Food Association
(VFA), in the last ten months, Vietnam exported over 5 million tonnes of rice,
a slight decrease of 6 percent year-on-year. The export price also dropped by
24.03 USD per tonne.
Asia maintained its position as Vietnam’s biggest rice importer,
despite an annual decline of 11.2 percent in the market share to 71.58 percent.
Africa, Australia, and Europe showed greater demand for Vietnamese rice with
higher imports recorded during the period.The VFA anticipates 6.34 million
tonnes of rice will be shipped abroad in 2015, excluding cross-border sales
estimated at 1.64 million tonnes.-VNA
http://en.vietnamplus.vn/rice-export-deals-hit-record-level-in-october/84629.vnp
Palay production to fall this year
Posted
on November 16, 2015 11:02:00 PM
PRODUCTION of palay -- a staple that contributes nearly a fifth to the value of total farm output -- is now officially expected to be lower than last year and fall short of target due to climate-related losses, increasing the likelihood of additional imports for 2016.
The Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Rice and Corn Situation and Outlook for October that was released yesterday showed production of palay,
or unmilled rice, is now forecast at 18.3 million metric tons (MT) for this
year, 3.54% below 2014’s 18.97 million MT and 8.5% short of a 20 million MT
full-year target.PSA reported last Friday that palay production fell 15.71%
annually to 2.55 million metric tons (MT) last quarter as “[s]ignificant
reductions were noted in the volume of production, harvest areas and yield as a
result of unrealized plantings [sic] due to inadequate irrigation water,
late occurrence of rains and some areas being left in-fallow.
”This quarter’s production -- based on standing crop -- is expected
to reach 7.42 million MT, 1.84% lower than the 7.56 million MT actually
recorded in 2014’s comparable three months.Citing “farmers’ planting
intentions”, the agency now sees palay production edging up by 0.31% to 4.38
million MT in 2016’s first quarter from 4.37 million MT in January-March this
year on the back of expanded harvest area that should offset lower yield as the
El Niño-induced drought rages.
Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan, who heads the El
Niño Task Force, had said earlier this month -- before the government reported
lower actual third-quarter palay output -- that his panel would recommend an
additional 1.3 million MT of rice imports in the wake of recents storms and
amid current dry weather.For corn -- which contributes about seven percent to
total value of farm output and whose production slipped by 1.7% year-on-year to
2.41 million MT last quarter -- the PSA now expects the year to end with 7.55
million MT, 2.8% below 2014’s 7.77 million MT.
October-December corn crop is expected to be 4.18% lower annually due to a 0.62% reduction in harvest area and a 3.58% fall in yield per hectare, while first-quarter 2016 production is projected to edge up by 0.48% to 2.38 million MT from the 2.37 million MT actually recorded in this year’s comparable three months.
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=TopStory&title=palay-production-to-fall-this-year&id=118747
Water price bursts rice bubble
Oct. 23, 2015,
3 a.m.
Eflem
Sartor, "Farm 500", Yenda, in last summer's Reziq rice crop which
yielded 12 tonnes a hectare.THE sky-high price of water could squeeze rice out
of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Valleys this summer.Temporary water in the
Murray is selling for about $280 a megalitre, up from $120/ML this time last
year and irrigation water in the Murrum-bidgee is selling for $210/ML.Water
prices softened on the back of increased water allocations last week but many
growers aren't committing to the thirsty crop.
Murray Catchment Authority senior land services
officer John Fowler, Deniliquin, estimated rice plantings could be down b y as much as 80 per cent this year."As
much as they'd love to support the local rice industry, they've done the sums
and they know they can't afford to buy water," Mr Fowler said.I've heard
of some neighbours pooling the water they have to get a crop between
them."He said many growers around the Deniliquin area had used their
existing water to finish winter cereals.RiceGrowers Association president
Jeremy Morton said the state's rice crop would be well down, but not to the
extent Mr Fowler estimated.
"Our selling window will be open for at
least another month and I expect a number of growers will decide to plant a
crop within that time."In a bid to boost plantings in the Riverina last
week, SunRice guaranteed a price of $415 a tonne for medium grain Reiziq and up
to $655 a tonne for speciality varieties, including organic medium grain rice,
delivered to the 2016 crop rice pool.SunRice chairman Laurie Arthur said the
tight water outlook pushed the announcement.It had already made a difference,
he said."We did notice after the announcement we got a boost of people
collecting seed and we're are confident our guaranteed price will continue to
have an impact on grower numbers over the next month," he said.Coleambally
grower Rodney Foster was swayed by SunRice's guaranteed prices.
"When I heard the prices they were
offering I thought I had better put some in," Mr Foster said.He will plant
38 hectares, down from his usual 380ha."We would have put in another 40
hectares if we had enough water but it's just not in the system," he said."We've
gone big on corn instead."Mr Foster said a few of his neighbours had
turned to cotton to maximise the return on their hefty water investment.Growing
rice this year was off the table for Moulamein grower Robert Glenn,
"Edward Park", until he heard about SunRice's deal."We're still
undecided, but it helps to know that SunRice has extended the offer," he
said."We can't generate enough money by growing rice but we're passionate
about our rice industry and what it does for our local community, so we may let
our heart rule our economics."RiceGrower's Jeremy Morton expected the
Sherpa variety to be popular this summer."It's a short season variety, so
it will use less water than other options. However, Reiziq will be the most
popular variety planted," he said.
Rice no dice, cash price too nice at Yenda
IT IS better economics for Yenda grower Eflem
Sartor to sell his water than plant a summer crop.It was "an easy
decision" not to plant rice for Mr Sartor, "Farm 500"."It
was much more viable for me to sell my water, which I did a week and a half
ago," he said."I couldn't see the sense in working over summer for
such little profit."Instead, he will have his first holiday in 35
years."I don't know where I'm going or what I'm going to do but I'm very
much looking forward to it."He said some neighbours had committed to
planting rice, despite temporary water trading at about $210 a
megalitre."They must be using a completely different calculator to
me," he said.
"Then again, they may have carryover water
from last season, which I don't."Mr Sartor is pictured in last year's
Reiziq rice crop, which yielded 12 tonnes to the hectare."I was very
pleased with it, but it's a completely different scenario this year."This
year Mr Sartor planted 1000 hectares of dryland cereals and was pleased with
their development in the lead-up to harvest.
JESSIE
DAVIES
http://www.northqueenslandregister.com.au/story/3442284/water-price-bursts-rice-bubble/?cs=4770
Choice for Vietnam rice brand still in
dispute
VietNamNet
Bridge - Both Jasmine and Japonica rice are being considered as Vietnam’s
national rice brands but many experts disagree.
The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) has suggested that Jasmine and
Japonica rice varieties can be chosen for development into Vietnam’s national
rice brand. However, experts say they are not a reasonable choice.Two weeks
ago, experts and businesses raised their opposition against the association’s
proposal on the Jasmine variety.Professor Vo Tong Xuan, the best known rice
expert, said this variety of rice has been eliminated in many countries in the
world, emphasizing that a variety which is no longer favored in the world must
not be the symbol of Vietnam.VFA recently suggested adding Japonica, a Japanese
rice variety, on the list of rice varieties for consideration to develop a
national rice brand.There are two reasons behind the association’s decision.
First, the market demand for Japonica rice is relatively high. And second,
Vietnam has favorable conditions to organize the production of the rice.
However, VFA has once again spoken about public opposition to this
proposal. Of the 4.3 million tons of rice exported by VFA’s member
companies in the first nine months of 2015, Japonica rice only accounted for
one percent. A VFA’s report showed that 27.55 percent of rice exported was
high-quality white rice, while 25.01 percent was scented rice. Average-quality
white rice exports accounted for 13.69 percent of total exports, while low-cost
white rice accounted for 11.29 percent. Huynh The Nang, VFA’s chair, said
VFA wants to choose three 
market
segments for the national rice brand development – scented rice, high-quality
white rice and specialty rice. Japonica has been suggested for specialty
rice. However, he stressed that the Japonica VFA has suggested is not the pure
Japanese variety, but the one created by cross-breeding by a Vietnamese
company, which also has round grains like Japanese Japonica.Xuan believes that
the rice variety mentioned by Nang is DS1 created by the Vietnam Agriculture
Genetic Institute.
market
segments for the national rice brand development – scented rice, high-quality
white rice and specialty rice. Japonica has been suggested for specialty
rice. However, he stressed that the Japonica VFA has suggested is not the pure
Japanese variety, but the one created by cross-breeding by a Vietnamese
company, which also has round grains like Japanese Japonica.Xuan believes that
the rice variety mentioned by Nang is DS1 created by the Vietnam Agriculture
Genetic Institute.
Meanwhile, Xuan does not think DS1 could be welcomed by
Japanese.Though DS1 also has round grain like Japonica, DS1 is less soft than
Japonica and therefore, it could not be rolled to make sushi.Le Minh Truong,
deputy general director of Vinafood 2, thinks it would be better to develop the
rice varieties which account for the highest proportions in exports.“Why
shouldn’t we think of consolidating what we have now instead of developing
completely new ones?” he said.
500,000-ton Cuban market would be ‘beneficial’ to U.S. rice farmers
Nov 15, 2015 | Delta Farm
Press
What
What I'm
leading to is that a 500,000- ton market in nearby Cuba with Cuba mostly taking
milled rice would be very beneficial to the U.S. rice industry.” - Dr. Nathan
Childs.
Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack visits PALCO grocery store accompanied by PALCO President
Abraham Masques in Havana, Cuba, on Saturday (Nov. 14).
USDA photo by
Lydia Barraza
How much
rice could the United States sell Cuba if all the political, financial and
other hurdles that have brought U.S. rice shipments to the island to a
standstill in recent years were permanently removed?
That’s
been a subject of considerable speculation in the U.S. rice community since President
Obama and President Raul Castro announced the United States and Cuba would
restore full diplomatic ties last Dec. 17.Most rice industry members know a
number of obstacles such as the 50-plus-year-old trade embargo against Cuba and
restrictions on providing credit to finance Cuban purchases have to be removed.
But what happens if those are cleared and shipments of U.S. rice begin arriving
in Cuban ports again?
“If the
U.S. exported the same amount of rice it did in the late 1950s and 1960s –
around 150,000 to 160,000 tons – Cuba would be the seventh largest U.S. rice
market today,” says Nathan Childs, senior agricultural economist with the
USDA’s Economic Research Service.Dr. Childs, who has been analyzing the U.S.
and global rice markets for more than 20 years, discussed the outlook for U.S.
and Cuba trade, during a University of Arkansas Systems Division of Agriculture
Food and Agribusiness Webinar. Stephen Zahniser, a USDA economist specializing
in trade with Mexico, was also a presenter.After the passage of the Trade
Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, the U.S. shipped from
150,000 to 175,000 tons, mostly of milled, rice to Cuba a year until 2008 when
exports peaked and began to decline. Most of the shipments were of milled rice.
http://deltafarmpress.com/rice/500000-ton-cuban-market-would-be-beneficial-us-rice-farmers
Thailand
to gain from lower rice supply
PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
THE NATION November 17, 2015 1:00 am
THE COMMERCE Ministry is set to release 13 million tonnes of rice
from the government's stockpiles by the end of 2018, while it expects Thailand
to export at least nine million tonnes of rice next year due to
lower-than-normal rice supplies globally because of climate change.The ministry
also expects rice shipments to reach 10 million tonnes this year, with
shipments of about eight million tonnes worth US$3.8 billion (Bt127 billion)
between January 1 to November 10.Chutima Bunyapraphasara, permanent-secretary
to the ministry, said yesterday that the government was confident it would
clear the stockpiles within the next two years as many countries had lower rice
stocks because of the El Nino climate effect.She said that the government set
up a strategy to release rice from the stockpiles in June 2014. So far, from
about 18 million tonnes of rice in stockpiles, about 13 million is remaining
and this amount should be release continuously," she said.
The
government is scheduled to sign a rice contract with the Chinese government on
December 19 that will result in a second shipment of rice to China under a
government-to-government deal for one million tonnes of rice. The first G-to-G
between Thailand and China for one million tonnes of rice will be completed
early next year. Thailand has already shipped about 800,000 tonnes of rice to
China.Thailand will soon sign a contract to sell 500,000 tonnes of rice to the
Indonesian government.Chutima said that in 2016 the ministry would continue its
plan to release rice from stockpiles, while also help promote the sale of rice
in a bid to ensure farmers have stable incomes.Thailand is expected to produce
about 10 per cent less rice than normal next year due to the drought impact and
limitations in growing second crops.
With
a lower supply to the market, the price should increase and create a better
return for farmers, the ministry said. The ministry reported that since August
last year until now, the government had sold about five million tonnes of rice
worth Bt52.3 billion. From the total stock of 13 million tonnes, about six million
tonnes is good quality, while six million tonnes is a lower quality that can be
upgraded to mixed rice or used for industrial supply. The remaining 700,000
tonnes is rotten rice, which can not be consumed and can only be sold for
non-food industrial and biomass production.The ministry will suspend releasing
the good quality rice from the government's stockpiles until March next year
when the current main-crop rice harvest season ends.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Thailand-to-gain-from-lower-rice-supply-30273059.html
Weak
ringgit may push up RICE PRICE
KUALA
LUMPUR- The weak ringgit has not only made imported rice dearer, it may
eventually cause the hitherto stable prices of local rice to also go up as
consumers switch to the cheaper local grains.Malaysia Rice Wholesalers
Association president Ng Chee Len has expressed concern that if the ringgit
weakens further, the prices of imported rice, which had gone up a month ago,
may rise again early next year, Nanyang Siang Pau reported today.Should that
happen, consumers may ditch the imported rice to opt for the cheaper local
alternative, forcing the price of the latter to also go up due to the spike in
demand, he explained."This is the prediction by rice traders, but we hope
this worst-case scenario won't happen.
"Ng
told the daily that there is ample supply of both imported and locally produced
rice and the only factor behind the hike in imported rice is the slide in value
of the ringgit.On the price outlook in the near term, he said it all depends on
how Bernas (Padiberas Nasional Berhad) deals with the situation.The prices of
local rice have remained unchanged for the time being as they are not affected
by the ringgit dip.However, he pointed out that another round of price hike for
imported rice will make consumers wanting to stretch their ringgit to opt for
the cheaper local varieties, thus pushing up their prices.
At
present, imported rice constitutes 35% of the total consumption in Malaysia.In
the past month, the prices of imported glutinous rice had gone up by an average
of 17%, and 10% for fragrant rice.On the government's decision to scrap the
Super Tempatan 15 (ST15) rice subsidy, Ng said it was laudable as the subsidy
benefited middlemen more than the targeted consumers.He said there are better
ways to help the poor.-TheSunDailyhttp://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=606827:weak-ringgit-may-push-up-rice-price&Itemid=2#axzz3rvvpZFQd
Rice prices may shoot up, says Assocham
study
OUR BUREAU
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 15:
Rice prices may surge in the coming months as
stocks are depleting fast on the back of deficient rains and fall in output, a
study by industry chamber Assocham said, urging the government to closely
monitor prices and stocks as the domestic demand for rice is huge. “Though
the government estimates kharif rice production at 90.61 MMT (million metric
tonnes), this is unlikely to be achieved due to severe deficit rains in Punjab,
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka and the best that
could be achieved is 89 MMT,” according to a paper on ‘Impact of weak/deficient
monsoon on agricultural production and prices’ by the Associated Chambers of
Commerce of India.
Output estimates
The actual production may be around 103 MMT
during 2015-16. Moreover, rice stocks have been steadily declining in the
past three years, the study added. “Increasing export outgo on account of
the public distribution system and other welfare schemes will continue to weigh
on availability in the open market. Unless the government is able to handle
the situation prudently, depleting stocks will soon reflect on the open market
prices,” Assocham said.
The
industry body suggested that direct seeded rice (DSR) should be encouraged to
conserve water. At present, less than 10 per cent of paddy production
is under DSR due to limitations in the availability of suitable equipment for
DSR in clay soils.
(This
article was published on November 15, 2015)
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/rice-prices-may-shoot-up-says-assocham-study/article7880619.ece
A model for APEC: Innovative
entrepreneurship for inclusive agribusiness
Grassroots & Governance --
Teresa S. Abesamis
Inclusive growth, the overall
theme for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference that began
this week, is really about reducing poverty or closing the gap between the rich
and poor in and among the member economies.
It happens that rice farmers, who produce the basic food for
majority of Asians, and increasingly for Africans, are among the poorest in the
APEC economies. Rice is the staple food for over half of the world’s
population. It is an ironic situation that has prevailed for centuries; and it
is time, with economic integration and opening of free markets, that
innovations be created and adopted to radically transform the rice business to
benefit all of its stakeholders. There
is an interesting and successful model in Vietnam that deserves serious study
not only for rice production but for food production in general.
From colonial times, Asia
has been home to feudal systems of agriculture with large land-owning families,
such as was once the prevalent case in the Philippines, and poorly paid,
impoverished agricultural workers subsisting on the landowners’ benevolence, if
any.Since agrarian reform, rice farming in Asia has been characterized by small
holder farms of two hectares or less, with planting and harvesting, threshing
and winnowing done through manual labor. Drying the palay has
often been done on concreted roads causing the rice to be mixed with dirt and
stones, resulting in about 15% wastage even before the rice is milled. Small
farmers who have no direct access to capital and markets, end up owing traders
who supply their inputs (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides) who deduct it from the
price of the paddies, which the traders take to the millers who either buy the
rice or charge for the milling services. The rice farmers end up earning below
the poverty line.
The rice farmer’s plight is
one of the tragedies of Asia, and rural folk are among the poorest of the
poor.The An Giang Plant Protection Joint Stock Co. (AGPPS) in Vietnam, founded
in 1993, has pioneered a remarkable, inclusive approach to working with
farmers, who can only provide their small piece of land, and their labor.
Because of the low returns on their land and their hard work, the younger
generation prefers to get jobs in the cities. In the Philippines, the average
age of farmers is estimated at 57 years old!An Giang’s founder and chairman,
Mr. Huyn Van Thon, 57, saw the problem and worked out a deal with the
government to privatize some functions of the government, and take over the
business, leaving the government with 29% share of the privatized corporation.
Starting as a supplier of rice production inputs: seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, An Giang diversified vertically downstream and worked closely with the farmers, supplying inputs on credit with no interest, in which international supplier companies like Syngenta (a merger between Novartis and Ciba Geigy) cooperated with equally liberal terms of credit.
Working with the government’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development it set up a Research and Development Center toward increased productivity of rice crops, technologies which An Giang shared with the farmers through its Farmer Friends network, consisting of agronomists and agricultural engineers who were sent out into the field. These Farmers’ Friends, who grew into a force of over a thousand, were also subjected to intensive training in socializing skills, climate change adaptation, and community health, environmental sustainability and development orientations which enabled them to build relationships of trust with the farmer-clientele.
In order to increase efficiency through economies of scale, An
Giang was able to obtain cooperation from the government in order to
consolidate on voluntary basis, small parcels of land into large integrated
cooperative networks, thus enabling the farmers to rent or acquire Combine
harvesters which mechanized large scale harvesting, threshing and winnowing.
The Combine harvesters achieved in a few hours what labor intensive approaches
took days to complete.An Giang also advanced milling and storage facilities
payments, on condition that the farmers paid for such services within 120 days,
upon sale of their produce. Farmers were also taught to calculate costs and
benefits from their outputs enabling them to negotiate fairer deals for their
produce, which they continued to own until sold. Farmer leaders, who became the link to the cooperatives were given
shares in the An Giang Corp., which incentivized them to be loyal and
productive.
An Giang is the first private sector led initiative to establish
large scale rice cultivation in Vietnam. It is also the first private
sector-led initiative on providing direct services to small-holder farmers
through its Farmers’ Friends Program. It also established the first privately
run research center on rice and agricultural seedlings, and the first food
corporation to offer ownership to farmers. Through its vertical and horizontal
integration strategies, An Giang’s business philosophy consisted of a Triple
Bottom Line approach (Profit, People and Planet).Impact? There are 13 provinces
in the Mekong River Delta covered by public-private activities on environmental
protection. AGPPS adheres to VietGAP, which is based on Global Good
Agricultural Practices promoted by the International Rice Research Institute.
Being in the Mekong River Delta is of course advantageous for
irrigation and fertility of the soil. As
of 2013, about 11,000 farmers were enrolled in AGPPS’s extension programs.
Membership increased by 78% per annum. AGPPS reduced production costs by
10%-20%. The production cost of 1 kilogram of rice paddy is only 2,200 dongs
while it costs about 3,200 dongs to 3500 dongs in other fields. Farmers sell
their harvested rice to AGPPS for 6300 dong to 6,700 dongs per kilogram and
earn a profit of 200%. The
project allowed processing to increase five-fold from 100,000 tons of paddies
in 2012 to 500,000 tons in 2014.Today, Vietnamese rice reaches 120 countries.
China is its biggest buyer. African countries such as the Ivory Coast, Angola
and Ghana are increasing their imports. There are traditional buyers from ASEAN
region, including the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.An Giang’s shared
business success attracted the interest of Standard Chartered Bank which in
2014, through its Private Equity Fund, invested $92 million in exchange for 34%
of the company, following months of due diligence. Bert Kwan, Head of SCPE
Southeast Asia commented “We are extremely pleased to be an investor in one of
Vietnam’s flagship enterprises.
We are privileged to support
AGPPS’s laudable mission of bringing to the market commercially sound products
and services that bolster the profitability of the Vietnamese rice value chain,
while raising the standard of living for potentially millions of farmers. We
worked closely with Mr. Thon and his highly capable management team over the
past nine months during the due diligence process, and are confident that SCPE
is well positioned to play a constructive role going forward as AGPPS’s
shareholder partner.
”In the past months, with its increased capitalization, Chairman
Huyn Thon announced radical transformations in the organization of the corporation,
renaming it the Loc Troi Group. He also announced plans to diversify into other
crops such as coffee and vegetable crops.The APEC membership would do well to
learn from the example of Chairman Huyn Thon’s initiatives in inclusiveness up
and down the value chain, in which “everybody is happy.
” He mobilized the support of government, obtained cooperation of
multinational input suppliers, and attracted private investment from an
international venture capital institution. Most important, he earned the trust
of the farmers through his innovative, inclusive approaches to extension work,
and business sharing. With demonstrated good intentions, it can work.The
AGPPS story is mainly a research output of AIM’s Research and editorial team
for the APEC Business Advisory Council led by Professor Federico Macaranas.Teresa
S. Abesamis is a former professor at the Asian Institute of Management and
an independent development management consultant.
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=a-model-for-apecinnovative-entrepreneurship-for-inclusive-agribusiness&id=118781
Rice procurement by govt agencies
up 25%
FCI, others
have purchased more than 12.22 mt since Oct 1
Notwithstanding the prospect of a lower output this year because of
deficient monsoon, rice procurement by Food Corporation of India (FCI) and
state government-owned agencies in the kharif marketing season 2015-16 has seen
an increase of close to 25% so far in comparison to last year.The government
agencies have purchased more than 12.22 million tonne of rice since October 1
(when new procurement season began) till now, compared to 9.7 mt rice purchased
from the farmers during same period last year.
Food ministry sources told FE that the higher procurement of rice
is also attributed to fall in prices of common variety of rice in various
mandis across the country. “The farmers prefer to sell their grain to agencies
rather than giving it the private traders in Punjab and Haryana,” an official
said.As per the latest data, out of the total rice equivalent of paddy
procurement in Punjab, the agencies have purchased 8.3 mt of rice from the
farmers till now, thus surpassing even the target of 8.8 mt for 2015–16
marketing season. In Punjab, which contributes the highest volume of rice and
wheat to central pool, 7.5 mt of rice was purchased during the same
period last year.
In Haryana, the state government agencies have purchased more than
2.8 mt of rice equivalent of paddy by now, thus surpassing the target of 2.3 mt
set for the year.Other states which have commenced rice procurement include
Uttar Pradesh (1.7 lakh tonne), Telangana (2 lakh tonne), Kerala (76,933 tonne)
etc.The food ministry officials say that if the current trend continues, the
overall rice procurement during 2015–16 period would surpass the target of 30
mt.
The agencies had purchased
32 mt of rice so far in 2014-15 marketing year (October-September). Agencies
buy paddy from the farmers, thereafter the grain is given to millers for
conversion into rice.The rice procurement in states like Chhattisgarh, Odisha,
West Bengal and Assam would commence at the end of next month.The Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in June had increased the minimum support
price (MSP) of common variety of paddy by Rs 50 to Rs 1,410 per quintal
for 2015-16 kharif season. The hike in MSP was based onthe recommendation of
the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).Meanwhile, the food
ministry has asked agencies in the decentralised procurement states Madhya
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha and other non-traditional states Bihar and
Jharkhand to maximise the procurement of rice and coarse grains during next
marketing season.The FCI has been preparing a policy for involving private
sectors in the procurement of rice in eastern states.
USA Rice Visits UK Trade with
Eye to Returning U.S. Rice to Shelves
Reputation for quality
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward
and Regional Director Hartwig Schmidt recently conducted trade visits here to
update the UK rice trade on the current U.S. rice supply
situation.Approximately 90 percent of U.S. long grain rice sales here service
the ethnic sector, but there is increasing competition from European and Thai
origins, based on price."We're also now seeing basmati prices dropping
enough that consumers are sometimes willing to give it a try in place of U.S.
long grain," Ward said after meeting with major retailers. "The good news is that we have an
unparalleled reputation for quality, consistency, food safety, and
sustainability. The task at hand will be
doing more to promote these facts to consumers."
Ward said USA Rice conducts
several promotional activities in the ethnic sector throughout the year here
and that importers of U.S. rice she met with offered valuable suggestions on
additional promotions that should be considered to increase U.S. rice sales.
Meetings with rice buyers in the industrial sector revealed the potential for
reintroducing U.S. rice to this high volume market segment, who remember and
appreciate the consistency and high quality of U.S. long grain rice.
It is through
regular trade servicing and promotional activities that USA Rice, in
cooperation with the UK trade, will get U.S. rice back on the retail shelves
beyond just the ethnic markets. In spite
of the tough competition, U.S. long grain rice sales more than doubled as
compared to last year, reaching over 18,000 MT in the period January-September
2015.
Contact: Hartwig Schmidt 011-49-40-4503-8660
11/17/2015 Arkansas Farm Bureau Daily
Commodity Report
Rice
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High
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Low
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Long Grain Cash Bids
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- - -
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- - -
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Long Grain New Crop
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- - -
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- - -
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Futures:
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Rice Comment
Rice futures reversed yesterday's huge losses and charted a
bullish key reversal in the process. January will have resistance near $12.50
on the rebound, though. Global ending stocks for 15/16 were raised by 3 percent
(2.7 million tons) due to an increase in beginning stocks and a decrease in
consumption in the November report. The average long-grain price is projected
down $1.30 from last month to $11.50 to $12.50.
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open-November 17
Nagpur, Nov 17 Gram prices today firmed up again in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and
Marketing Committee (APMC) here on good seasonal buying support from local millers amid weakarrival from producing regions. Fresh rise in Madhya Pradesh gram prices and enquiries fromSouth-based millers also boosted prices, according to sources.
* * * *
FOODGRAINS & PULSES
GRAM
* Gram varieties ruled steady in open market here but demand was poor.
TUAR
* Tuar varieties declined sharply in open market here on subdued demand from local
traders because of higher prices and good overseas arrival.
* Masoor varieties showed weak tendency in open market on poor buying support from
local traders amid ample stock in ready position.
* In Akola, Tuar - 10,000-10,300, Tuar dal - 15,800-16,200, Udid -
13,900-14,300, Udid Mogar (clean) - 17,300-18,000, Moong -
10,000-10,200, Moong Mogar (clean) 11,600-11,800, Gram - 4,200-4,300,
Gram Super best bold - 6,000-6,200 for 100 kg.
* Wheat, rice and other commodities remained steady in open market
in weak trading activity.
Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg
FOODGRAINS Available prices Previous close
Gram Auction 4,100-4,800 4,080-4,740
Gram Pink Auction n.a. 2,100-2,600
Tuar Auction n.a. 7,800-9,200
Moong Auction n.a. 6,000-6,400
Udid Auction n.a. 4,300-4,500
Masoor Auction n.a. 2,600-2,800
Gram Super Best Bold 6,400-6,600 6,400-6,600
Gram Super Best n.a. n.a.
Gram Medium Best 6,000-6,100 6,000-6,100
Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a
Gram Mill Quality 5,000-5,100 5,000-5,100
Desi gram Raw 4,900-5,000 4,900-5,000
Gram Filter new 5,400-5,600 5,400-5,600
Gram Kabuli 5,800-7,100 5,800-7,100
Gram Pink 6,200-7,000 6,200-7,000
Tuar Fataka Best 16,000-16,500 16,300-16,700
Tuar Fataka Medium 15,000-15,500 15,300-15,800
Tuar Dal Best Phod 14,000-14,500 14,300-14,700
Tuar Dal Medium phod 12,500-13,000 12,800-13,400
Tuar Gavarani New 10,500-11,000 10,200-11,300
Tuar Karnataka 11,000-11,500 11,200-11,800
Tuar Black 17,000-17,500 17,200-17,800
Masoor dal best 7,500-7,800 7,700-8,000
Masoor dal medium 7,100-7,400 7,300-7,600
Masoor n.a. n.a.
Moong Mogar bold 11,600-12,100 11,600-12,100
Moong Mogar Med 10,100-11,100 10,100-11,100
Moong dal Chilka 9,500-9,600 9,500-9,600
Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a.
Moong Chamki best 9,000-10,000 9,000-10,000
Udid Mogar Super best (100 INR/KG) 16,600-18,600 16,600-18,600
Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 14,600-15,600 14,600-15,600
Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 10,600-11,200 10,600-11,200
Batri dal (100 INR/KG) 6,100-6,600 6,100-6,600
Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 5,200-5,300 5,200-5,300
Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,400 3,200-3,400
Watana White (100 INR/KG) 3,000-3,200 3,000-3,200
Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 3,300-3,600 3,300-3,600
Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 1,600-1,700 1,600-1,700
Wheat Mill quality (100 INR/KG) 1,650-1,750 1,650-1,750
Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 1,550-1,750 1,550-1,750
Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,200-2,400 2,200-2,400
Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 1,950-2,100 1,950-2,100
Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.
MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,400-4,000 3,400-4,100
MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,600-2,800 2,600-2,900
Rice BPT best (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,200 2,800-3,200
Rice BPT medium (100 INR/KG) 2,600-2,800 2,600-2,800
Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG) 1,600-1,800 1,600-1,800
Rice Swarna best (100 INR/KG) 2,100-2,450 2,100-2,450
Rice Swarna medium (100 INR/KG) 1,800-2,200 1,800-2,200
Rice HMT best (100 INR/KG) 3,400-3,800 3,400-3,800
Rice HMT medium (100 INR/KG) 3,100-3,300 3,100-3,300
Rice HMT Shriram best(100 INR/KG) 4,200-4,500 4,200-4,500
Rice HMT Shriram med.(100 INR/KG) 3,600-4,100 3,600-4,100
Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 8,000-10,000 8,000-10,000
Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 7,000-7,500 7,000-7,500
Rice Chinnor best(100 INR/KG) 5,200-5,400 5,200-5,500
Rice Chinnor medium (100 INR/KG) 4,600-5,000 4,700-5,000
Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 1,800-2,100 1,800-2,100
Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 1,600-1,800 1,600-1,800
WEATHER (NAGPUR)
Maximum temp. 32.0 degree Celsius (89.06 degree Fahrenheit), minimum temp.
15.5 degree Celsius (59.9 degree Fahrenheit)
Humidity: Highest - n.a., lowest - n.a.
Rainfall : n.a.
FORECAST: Mainly clear sky. Maximum and minimum temperature would be around and 32 and 16 degree Celsius respectively.
Note: n.a.--not available
(For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but included in market prices.)
Commodity Report-Nov. 16
Published November 16, 2015
In
today’s commodity report we have the Weekly Rice Summary, the California Shell
Eggs: Daily Egg Report and other commodity end of the day market numbers.
Weekly Rice
Summary
In
California, medium grain milled rice prices steady to 1.00 lower. Second heads
and Brewers prices steady to 1.00 lower. Rice by-products: Rice Bran prices
10.00 to 15.00 higher. Ground rice hulls spot trade lightly tested, mostly all
hulls already sold. The large supply of rice stocks on hand has softened market
prices and continues to remain weak for new milling season. CME Rough Rice
settlements for Friday Nov 13th, Jan 16 closed .215 lower at 12.145; Mar 16
closed .22 lower at 12.405; May 16 closed .22 lower at 12.69. US dollar index
on Friday settled at 98.80.Benchmark prices are 23 cents higher for Jumbo, 25
cents higher for Extra Large, 24 cents higher for Large and 7 cents higher for
Medium and Small. Retail and food service demand is fairly good to good.
Offerings and supplies are mostly moderate. Market activity is active. Small
benchmark price $2.31.Shell egg marketer’s benchmark price for negotiated egg
sales of USDA Grade AA and Grade AA in cartons, cents per dozen. This price
does not reflect discounts or other contract terms.
|
RANGE
|
|
|
JUMBO
|
298
|
|
EXTRA LARGE
|
311
|
|
LARGE
|
306
|
|
MEDIUM
|
251
|
Now Monday’s
Commodity Market ending market numbers for other commodities:
Corn
December Corn ended at $3.60 gaining 1 3/4 cent, March ended at $3.66 3/4 increasing 1 1/4 cent.
Soybeans
January Soybeans ended at 8.59 1/2 up 4 1/4 cents, March ended at $8.60 3/4 gaining 4 1/2 cents.
Wheat
December Wheat ended at $4.94 losing 1 3/4 cent, March ended at $4.95 1/2, decreasing 2 1/4 cents.
Rough Rice
January Rough Rice ended at 11.84 down 0.305, March ended at 12.10 losing 0.305.
Live Cattle
December Live Cattle ended at $127.675 decreasing $3.00 and February ended at $129.65 dropping $3.00 and April ended at $129.55 off $3.00.
Feeder Cattle
November Feeder Cattle ended at $172.30 losing $2.775 and January ended at $160.10 decreasing $4.45 and March ended at $156.925 down $4.00.
Lean Hogs
December Lean Hogs ended at $51.80 decreasing $3.00, February ended at $54.05 down $3.00
Class III Milk
November Class III Milk ended at $15.40 down $0.01, December ended at $14.82 dropping $0.24 and January ended at $14.95 decreasing $0.17.
#2 Cotton
December #2 cotton ended at 61.74 up 0.06, March ending at 62.61 gaining 0.62.
Sugar #11
March sugar #11 ended at 15.18 up 0.14 and May ended at 14.79 increasing 0.12.
Orange Juice
January Orange Juice ended at 153.55 gaining $0.60, March ending at 150.25 up $1.15.
December Corn ended at $3.60 gaining 1 3/4 cent, March ended at $3.66 3/4 increasing 1 1/4 cent.
Soybeans
January Soybeans ended at 8.59 1/2 up 4 1/4 cents, March ended at $8.60 3/4 gaining 4 1/2 cents.
Wheat
December Wheat ended at $4.94 losing 1 3/4 cent, March ended at $4.95 1/2, decreasing 2 1/4 cents.
Rough Rice
January Rough Rice ended at 11.84 down 0.305, March ended at 12.10 losing 0.305.
Live Cattle
December Live Cattle ended at $127.675 decreasing $3.00 and February ended at $129.65 dropping $3.00 and April ended at $129.55 off $3.00.
Feeder Cattle
November Feeder Cattle ended at $172.30 losing $2.775 and January ended at $160.10 decreasing $4.45 and March ended at $156.925 down $4.00.
Lean Hogs
December Lean Hogs ended at $51.80 decreasing $3.00, February ended at $54.05 down $3.00
Class III Milk
November Class III Milk ended at $15.40 down $0.01, December ended at $14.82 dropping $0.24 and January ended at $14.95 decreasing $0.17.
#2 Cotton
December #2 cotton ended at 61.74 up 0.06, March ending at 62.61 gaining 0.62.
Sugar #11
March sugar #11 ended at 15.18 up 0.14 and May ended at 14.79 increasing 0.12.
Orange Juice
January Orange Juice ended at 153.55 gaining $0.60, March ending at 150.25 up $1.15.
http://agnetwest.com/2015/11/16/commodity-report-nov-16/
APEDIA Commodity News from
India
|
Price on: 17-11-2015
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CME Group/Closing Rough Rice
Futures
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Shawarma the Syrian way at restaurant Reyan
Ali Fallaha
brings a taste of Syria to Toronto at his Mississauga restaurant Reyan.
For Ali Fallaha, life in Syria was pretty
swell.That sounds counter-intuitive today given the current image of Syria is one of war and tragedy.But, during
his years there before moving to Canada in 2006, Fallaha had it made in the
shade.Graduating from the University of Damascus in 1980, he immediately found
work as a geologist, examining locations for diamond mines. He began cooking
for the long stretches in the field — 25 days at a time — and soon was bringing
food for the whole team. He then began a side business making prepared meals,
and later opened a clothing factory, then another one, producing leather shoes.
“My situation was at the top,” Fallaha tells
me, as he sits down on a stool for a rest in the kitchen of his Mississauga
restaurant Reyan. “Geologist,
catering, I have my own business, my family, my house, my car. So I have
everything. Life itself is good.”He had everything but the freedom to come and
go.Fallaha was born in Syria but his parents were Palestinian.“I have the same
right what Syrians have. I can study in the university for free. I get a job
easy. But I have no travel documents.”His brother Mazen, a chemical engineer,
lined up a good job prospect in Qatar, but couldn’t get permission to leave the
country for the interview in Jordan, just a few hours drive. It took more than
a month to get the documents to cross the border and in that time he lost the
opportunity.Mazen applied for Canadian citizenship and added Ali’s name as
well. At first Fallaha didn’t want to go. But in the five years between filing
the request and being called for an interview, his attitude changed.
“My sister lived in Jordan. My aunt lived in
Lebanon. It’s like 40 minutes from us. But we cannot cross the border. My
brother said, ‘Do you remember when your sister’s husband died? Could you go
there to stand behind your sister? You couldn’t. And don’t forget you have two
boys. Think about your kids’ future. Stay and they will live as we live
here.’”He only intended to stay in Canada long enough to help establish his
children, before returning. Since he didn’t need to renounce his Syrian
citizenship he was permitted to go. But life in Canada was hard at first.“I’m
not happy when I came here. I try here to start as a geologist. But it doesn’t
work. I am 48 years old. I graduate not from Canada. My English is not so good.
And if I want to qualify it will take five years. I will be 55. Who will hire
me?”
So he decided to switch to the restaurant
business, working for two years, in an Italian restaurant and an Arabic
restaurant, learning about Canadian tastes while saving money.He was not
impressed by the shawarma here.“It is not shawarma,” he says of the pita loaded
with onions, pickles and lettuce. “It’s shawarma Subway style. If I make it
back home, like they make it here, I’d have no customers.” While working for
someone else, he tried it his way, just a bit of garlic and pickles with the
chicken. “But they didn’t accept that. It’s not my store. I cannot make what I
want.”So in 2009 he took over the current property from a Sri Lankan restaurant.
His brother, also unable to work in his field as a chemical engineer, helped
out. At first, they served only shawarma and falafel.“But around me there
became a lot of shawarma stores. Competition. I discuss this matter with my
wife, Hazar.
The real
chef is my wife. She is the brains. Back in Syria, all people like her dishes.
She teach me.”With his wife’s guidance, he added more Syrian style dishes —
horrak osba’ao (a.k.a. “finger burner,” lentils and fried bread), basmashkat (a
thin steak stuffed with ground beef, which Fallaha delights in untying at the
table, for the customers) — and the business grew.“The Syrian kitchen is very
famous in Arabic world. Lebanon is the first kitchen in appetizers. Kibbeh,
tabbouleh, things like that. But,” he holds up a finger, “Syria, main course.”
One lamb for a girl
Sometimes a recipe isn’t about taste, but
religious tradition. And sometimes it’s both.
The lamb in this pot is for aqiqa, the Islamic
tradition of sacrificing and serving an animal for the birth of a child. So it
had to be one year old, healthy and slaughtered in the name of the newborn.“For
sons, you have to slaughter two lambs. For daughters, one,” says Fallaha.
“Either sheep or lamb or cow or camel. If you don’t have money, chicken is
good.” A further tradition is to invite less fortunate people to share the
lamb.He asks if I know the story of Ibrahim. I was a bad Hebrew school student,
reading X-Men under
my desk. But even I remember Abraham, tested by God, asked to slay his son.
“After that, God gave him a big lamb and said
slaughter this lamb instead of your son. He wanted to show Ibrahim how the son
obeys the father and how the father obeys God. So that’s why we have the
lamb.”This one, chopped into fist-sized chunks, has been boiled in a large pot for
five hours with lots of cinnamon bark, and spice shakers filled with pepper,
nutmeg, bay leaves and cloves (that way you get all the scent of the spices
with none of the grit). Draining off the rich lamb stock, Fallaha uses it to
cook the basmati rice.Pouring the fragrant rice onto trays, he tops it with the
meat, placing the skull in the centre while I pick out any cinnamon sticks and
loose bones, off of which the meat is falling.
He fills a separate bowl with rice and lamb for
me. The fat is so soft you could spread it on toast for breakfast. The meat and
rice are perfumed with the spices, none of them competing with the intensity of
the flesh.A geologist by training, Fallaha is methodical in everything, from
chopping an onion into exactly six pieces (eaten raw on a platter with pickles
alongside the signature hummus dishes), to stirring Turkish coffee (you know
it’s stirred when you no longer hear the echo of the spoon in the small pot) to
mashing garlic in a mortar and pestle (though he also has a “new style” garlic
press) to weighing out one gram spoonfuls of alkaline powder in the sauce for
fattet hummus bez-zeit, chickpeas and dried pita served with a sauce made from
whipping hummus, olive oil and chickpea boiling water into a froth.For falafel,
he uses a small, handheld device: a brass rod with a circle at the end. Into
the circle he packs the batter of chickpeas and spices, dabbing it with a
thumbnail of sesame seeds.
Like a
syringe, he depresses a plunger on the rod and out pops a hoop of batter, a hole
in the centre, dropping into a pot of oil.Holding up a finished falafel, he
points to the centre hole of the dark brown chickpea doughnut, indicating how
this allows the oil to circulate so the centre isn’t undercooked.There’s a note
of homesickness as he describes the specificity of everything he does. But he’s
proud to make it all from scratch, grinding his own beef, pickling his own
turnips in beet juice. Wanting everything to be perfect, he moves slowly and
deliberately, diners waiting patiently out front.“Reyan means ready to eat,
from the sun and the earth,” says Fallaha, searching for the English word.
“Ripe.”The lamb dish is available a la carte.But if you want to try some of
Fallaha’s cooking and you don’t live in Mississauga, you can attend the Supper
With Syria fundraiser at Wychwood Barns on Nov. 29, featuring Syrian food,
music and culture. Proceeds go to support Lifeline Syria, an organization that
helps settle Syrians in Canada. You can buy tickets at Torontoartscape.org.
Recipe: Fattet hummus
Wanting to simplify any recipe for publication,
I’d usually list cooked, canned beans by volume, instead of soaking and boiling
dry beans, which is always better. But in this case it’s essential, as you need
the liquid from the boiling chickpeas for your sauce. And also the chickpeas
will taste better. This is normally made with old bread that’s dried out on its
own. I’ve included the steps for drying (you can toast it too) and frying it.
But those are optional.
Ingredients
2 cups (500 mL) dried chickpeas
4 pieces
pita
canola oil for frying
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) hummus
1/4 cup (60 mL) ghee
1/4 cup (60 mL) lemon juice
salt to taste
2 tsp (10 mL) sumac
2 tsp (10 mL) paprika
2 tbsp (30 mL) chopped parsley
1/2 cup (125 mL) pomegranate seeds
In a large container, cover chickpeas with
water and soak overnight.
Slice the pita into nickel-sized bits. Place
half on a tray to dry out. Fill a pot one-third with oil, heat to 325F/160C and
fry remaining pita until crispy (about 1 minute). Remove with a slotted spoon
and transfer to a paper towel to soak up excess fat.The next day, drain and
rinse the chickpeas. Place in a medium pot covered with lightly salted water
and bring to a light boil. When the chickpeas are soft (about 40 minutes),
lower the heat to a simmer.
In another small pot, warm ghee to a simmer.
In a mixing bowl, combine hummus, lemon juice
and 3/4 cup (180 mL) of the chickpea boiling water. Whisk and season to taste
with salt.
Divide the dried pita between your four serving
bowls. Add chickpeas and sauce in layers and stir. Spoon ghee over top. It will
sizzle.
Garnish with sumac, paprika, parsley, fried
pita chips and pomegranate seeds.
Makes four servings
by Corey Mintz
Correction: Last week’s column, about the kitchen at the
Toronto Zoo, inaccurately identified potatoes, squash and carrots as being fed
to “red river hawks,” when they are, in fact, fed to “red river hogs.” Dear red
river hogs, with your white stripes and droopy ears, I regret the error.
VU
celebrates Diwali
A diner takes a sample of vegetable pakoras
Sunday evening at the Indian buffet at the Dewali celebration at Valparaiso
University.
November 16,
2015 5:30 pm •
VALPARAISO | The triumph of light over evil and
darkness was celebrated Sunday at Valparaiso University.
More than 300 guests gathered for the
traditional Indian celebration of Diwali, the ancient Hindu festival of lights,
an event sponsored by the campus’s Asian American Pacific Islander Coalition
and the Valparaiso University Indiana Student Association.
The festival is normally celebrated “just
before Thanksgiving,” said Carl Isada, the president of AAPIC at the
university.Morgan Mitchell, who helped organize the event, said the event is
celebrated in India for five days, and “illuminates the country” as the
beginning of the Hindu year.Highlights of the evening included a traditional
Indian buffet, which featured Indian delicacies such as vegetable pakoras,
chicken and vegetable samosas, mater paneer, butter chicken, basmati rice, naan,
cucumber raita, and dal makhani, with gulab jamun with rabri for dessert.Diners
were entertained after dinner by VU student dancing groups, including Indian
Cultural Fusion and the Naughty Nautankies.
Isada
said AAPIC exists to cultivate a “welcoming and inclusive” atmosphere at the
university and in the community.“We promote the appreciation, education, and
celebration of diverse cultures through campus activities and events,” said
Isada, a junior from Chicago.Many students wore traditional Indian garb in
celebration of the event. Rachael Broadus, of Fishers, wore a dress a friend
brought back from India, while her roommate, My Linh Mac, of Vietnam, wore a
traditional lengha, or embroidered skirt and top she purchased online.“I grew
up in different cultures,” said Mac, a senior in digital media.
“When I lived in Singapore, the Indian culture
was one I grew up around.” VU students Kristine Tarmann and Brendan Flaherty
enjoy being a part of VU’s diverse student body.“I love different cultures and
want to show support for the office of international programs,” said Tarmann,
of Minonk, Ill. “And I love Indian food. I’m a total foodie. ... I’ll try one
of everything.”Flaherty tries to broaden his horizons to complement his
upcoming degree in social work.“I try to become more culturally competent,”
said Flaherty, of Chicago. “It’s a good idea in social work to gain more
knowledge of different cultures.”
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/vu-celebrates-diwali/article_2c2db970-e811-5675-bd77-bb86aec5146a.html
