11th March 2016 Daily Exclusive ORYZA Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine

Global Rice Quotes

March 10th, 2016

Long grain white rice - high quality

Thailand 100% B grade           370-380           ↔

Vietnam 5% broken     365-375           ↔

India 5% broken          365-375           ↔

Pakistan 5% broken     335-345           ↔

Myanmar 5% broken   420-430           ↔

Cambodia 5% broken 410-420           ↔

U.S. 4% broken           440-450           ↓

Uruguay 5% broken    445-455           ↔

Argentina 5% broken   435-445           ↔

Long grain white rice - low quality

Thailand 25% broken 350-360           ↔

Vietnam 25% broken   355-365           ↔

Pakistan 25% broken   305-315           ↔

Cambodia 25% broken            395-405           ↔

India 25% broken        330-340           ↔

U.S. 15% broken (sacked)       460-470           ↔

Long grain parboiled rice

Thailand parboiled 100% stxd             365-375           ↔

Pakistan parboiled 5% broken stxd      NQ       ↔

India parboiled 5% broken stxd           355-365           ↔

U.S. parboiled 4% broken       480-490           ↔

Brazil parboiled 5% broken     520-530           ↔

Uruguay parboiled 5% broken             NQ       ↔

Long grain fragrant rice

Thailand Hommali 92%           660-670           ↔

Vietnam Jasmine         450-460           ↔

India basmati 2% broken         NQ       ↔

Pakistan basmati 2% broken    NQ       ↔

Cambodia Phka Mails 755-765           ↔

Brokens

Thailand A1 Super       330-340           ↑

Vietnam 100% broken             340-350           ↔

Pakistan 100% broken stxd     285-295           ↔

Cambodia A1 Super    335-345           ↔

India 100% broken stxd          260-270           ↔

Egypt medium grain brokens   NQ       ↔

U.S. pet food   280-290           ↔

Brazil half grain           NQ       ↔

All prices USD per ton, FOB vessel, oryza.com

Oryza CBOT Rough Rice Futures Recap - Chicago Rough Rice Futures Finish Lower but Close Well off Session Low as Outside Markets Provide Last Minute Support

Mar 11, 2016

Chicago rough rice futures for May delivery settled 4 cents were cwt (about $1 per ton) lower at $10.345 per cwt (about $228 per ton). The other grains finished the day higher; Soybeans closed about 0.4% higher at $8.8925 per bushel; wheat finished about 1.9% higher at $4.7700 per bushel, and corn finished the day about 0.9% higher at $3.6275 per bushel.

U.S. stocks held lower in choppy trade Thursday as oil prices fell and concerns about the effectiveness of monetary policy rose following the morning's announcements from the European Central Bank. Draghi surprised markets by saying he didn't anticipate a need to reduce rates further, although new facts can change the situation and the outlook. The euro extended earlier gains in afternoon trade, rising above $1.12 to its highest since Feb 15. The euro initially turned lower following the ECB announcement to trade near $1.08, its lowest since Feb. 1. In U.S. economic news, weekly jobless claims declined 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 259,000 for the week ended March 5, the lowest reading since mid-October, the Labor Department said in a Reuters report on Thursday.

The prior week's claims were revised to show 1,000 fewer applications received than previously reported. In afternoon trade, the Dow Jones industrial average traded down 123 points, or 0.73%, to 16,876. The S&P 500 traded down 12 points, or 0.6%, to 1,976, with information technology leading eight sectors lower and materials and telecommunications the only advancers. The Nasdaq composite declined 49 points, or 1.05%, to 4,625. Gold is seen trading about 1.3% higher, crude oil is seen trading about 1.2% lower, and the U.S. dollar is seen trading about 1.2% lower at about  2:00pm Chicago time.

Wednesday, there were 840 contracts traded, up from 352 contracts traded on Tuesday. Open interest – the number of contracts outstanding – on Wednesday increased by 249 contracts to 12,172. 

Experts Advise Vietnam Businesses to Grow Rice in Cambodia to Boost Exports to EU

Mar 10, 2016

An official from the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia suggested that Vietnam businesses should consider growing rice in Cambodia to boost exports to the EU as Cambodia enjoys a preferential tariff of zero percent on rice exports to the EU under the Everything But Arms (EBA) agreement, according to local sources.

Experts opine that Vietnam traditionally exports to the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia in ASEAN, and markets such as Africa and South America, but Vietnamese businesses find it difficult to penetrate into the EU and U.S, markets as they are more demanding on quality aspects.

He noted that businesses could either set up husking and processing rice plants in Cambodia, or organize production in Cambodia for export. He said setting up such processes in Cambodia would help the Cambodian rice sector also, which is in need of around $300 million capital to improve its infrastructure.

He also noted that this could help Vietnamese exporters to build a quality rice brand.

Drought Likely to Affect 80,000 Hectares of Rice Fields in Central Thailand, Says Agriculture Minister

Mar 10, 2016

On-going drought conditions are likely to ruin about half a million rai (80,000 hectares) of rice fields in Central Thailand, local sources quoted the Agriculture and cooperatives Minister.

Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, the Minister noted that off-season rice crops are severely affected by water shortages while seasonal crops are not that badly affected since most of them were harvested by now.

About 400,000 rai (around 64,000 hectares) of rice fields along the Chao Phraya river in the central region are the most affected, he said. Off-season rice is planted in a total of 3.5 million rai (around 560,000 hectares) along the Chao Phraya river, according to the Minister. Of this about 1.98 million rai (around 316,800 hectares) are plants within the irrigation zone and the remaining are planted outside the zone.  He noted that harvesting is complete in only 940,000 rai (around 150,400 hectares).

The Minister reportedly ordered the Deputy Permanent Secretary for Agriculture and Cooperatives to sort out long-term strategies for water use in all provinces by the end of this month.

In a recent report, the USDA Post forecast Thailand's MY 2015-16 (January - December 2016) paddy rice production at around 24 million tons, down from last year's 29.4 million tons. It forecast Thai off-season paddy production to decline about 57% y/y to around 3.1 million tons.

Thailand Rice Sellers Increase Some of Their Quotes Today; Other Asia Rice Quotes Unchanged

Mar 10, 2016

Thailand rice sellers increased their quotes for A1 super white broken rice by about $5 per ton to around $330-$340 per ton today. Other Asia rice sellers kept their quotes unchanged today.                      

5% Broken Rice

Thailand 5% rice is indicated at around $360 - $370 per ton, about $5 per ton discount to Vietnam 5% rice shown at around $365 - $375 per ton. India 5% rice is indicated at around $365 - $375 per ton, about $30 per ton premium on Pakistan 5% rice shown at around $335 - $345 per ton.

25% Broken Rice

Thailand 25% rice is indicated at around $350 - $360 per ton, about $5 per ton discount to Vietnam 25% rice shown at around $355- $365 per ton. India 25% rice is indicated at around $330 - $340 per ton, about $25 per ton premium on Pakistan 25% rice shown at around $305 - $315 per ton.

Parboiled Rice           

Thailand parboiled rice is indicated at around $365 - $375 per ton. India parboiled rice is indicated at around $355 - $365 per ton, about $50 per ton discount to Pakistan parboiled rice last shown at around $405 - $415 per ton.

100% Broken Rice

Thailand broken rice, A1 Super is indicated at around $330 - $340 per ton, about $10 per ton discount to Vietnam 100% broken rice shown at around $340 - $350 per ton. India's 100% broken rice is shown at around $260 - $270 per ton, about $25 per ton discount to Pakistan broken sortexed rice shown at around $285 - $295 per ton.

Life Cycle Assessment Tool Can Help Mitigate Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Rice Production, Say Researchers

Mar 10, 2016

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool can be used to mitigate the negative impact of rice production on environment, according to researchers.

A Japanese professor from Tohoku University noted that the LCA tool would help rice farmers to effectively reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rice production and cope with climate change.

Speaking in a lecture at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), he said the LCA  enables rice researchers to analyze the environmental impacts of rice production at every stage, and take necessary actions to mitigate the negative impacts. “Using LCA as a tool, we can evaluate the environmental effects of a product [like rice production] throughout its life cycle, from cradle to grave,” he says.

He noted that using LCA, Japanese rice producers discovered that most carbon-di-oxide emissions occur in the middle of the production and drying stage. Therefore, they moved from conventional tillage to a reduced tillage system, in which GHG emissions are relatively low.

A researcher from the PhilRice, who conducted a study on LCA, said: "When you do LCA, you will know each step in the rice-production process. You can identify which step produces the most emissions. From there, we plan our actions."

However, he noted that LCA is still not very popular in the Philippines and so he urged the Filipino researchers to use LCA, like in Japan and Australia, to reduce the harmful GHG emissions during rice production.

USA Rice Promotions Boost U.S. Rice Exports, Says Official

Mar 10, 2016

Promotional activities by the USA Rice Federation have helped boost sales in the major export markets of the U.S., Stuttgart Daily quotes the Chairman of the USA Rice International Promotion Committee.

For instance, he says the rice cooking classes conducted by the Federation in Mexico have helped to promote awareness about the U.S. rice among local people. They have also helped boost sales of U.S. rice in Mexico.

A survey of about 2,000 participants of USA Rice promotional activities in Mexico showed that prior to attending an event only 54% had a positive image of U.S. rice. The remaining of them saw it as time consuming to cook, fattening and limited in its use. However, the after participating in the USA Rice promotional activities, more than 90% of the participants reported a positive image of rice.

"This is just a snapshot of the consistent and positive results from the training USA Rice has conducted in Mexico for the past two decades that has led to increases in Mexican consumption of rice, most of which comes from the United States," added the official.