11th march,2017 daily global regional local rice e-newsletter by riceplus magazine

TCP issues fresh tender for supply of rice to Sri Lanka

IMADUDDIN

MAR 9TH, 2017 11:02

RIZWAN BHATTI

KARACHI: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has issued fresh tender for procurement of 5,000 tons Long Grain White Rice (IRRI-6) for export to Sri Lanka.

The procurement is being made on the directives of the federal government, which has committed to donating some 10,000 tons of rice to Sri Lanka as gift from the people of Pakistan.

The state-run grain trader has already procured 5,000 tons through a rice tender, opened on Monday. The TCP had finalized a deal on Tuesday with M/s Jhulay Lal Parboiled Rice Mills as the latter was the lowest bidder in the Long Grain White Rice (IRRI-6) tender.

Some 5,000 tons of the commodity has been procured at two different rates as the lowest bidder submitted two separate bids with two rates. The TCP has procured some 2,500 tons at a price of Rs 39,494 per ton and another quantity of 2,500 tons at Rs 40,307 per ton.

In order to complete the quantity for export to Sri Lanka, the TCP has invited sealed bids (under clause-42(d) (iii) of the Public Procurement Rules, 2004) on Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF) basis from companies/partnership/sole proprietors dealing in export of rice, in the shape of containerized bagged cargo packed in 50-kg polypropylene (PP) woven bags.

However, according to the tender document, the companies that are blacklisted by any government department /agency including the TCP are not eligible to participate in the tender.

The bids will be submitted by a bidder for a minimum quantity of 2,500 tons or multiples thereof with a maximum quantity of 5,000 tons for Long Grain White Rice (IRRI-6).

According to tender document, interested parties can submit/drop their bids, in sealed envelope up to March 10, 2017. The bids received will be opened the same day in the TCP's Board Room in the presence of bidders or their authorized representatives, who may wish to be present. As per the tender requirement, each bag of 50-kg IRRI-6 rice will be printed with black ink except Pakistani flag.

http://www.brecorder.com/2017/03/09/338706/tcp-issues-fresh-tender-for-supply-of-rice-to-sri-lanka/

 

A circular tale of changing food preferences

West Africans are eating more like Asians. Asians are eating more like Americans. And the richest Americans…

Mar 9th 2017| LOS ANGELES, SINGAPORE AND TIASSALÉ

IF YOU think of food simply as sustenance, or as a source of pleasure, a trip to the farmer’s market in Pacific Palisades will open your eyes. To the Lycra-clad shoppers in this wealthy district of Los Angeles, eating is an intensely tricky activity. A woman in a felt hat, Julie, says she tries to avoid white flour because it makes her feel bloated—though she makes an exception for tortillas. A mother of a four-year-old eats rice five times a week, but is “not proud of it”. Having educated herself about food, a third woman, Suzanne Tatoy, favours brown rice, quinoa, amaranth and millet.

Food fads are strange, powerful things. Between the 1970s and the 1990s Americans ate more and more wheat, partly because they were trying to avoid cholesterol. Then came a string of popular low-carbohydrate diets, from Dr Atkins to paleo. A rise in coeliac disease and selfdiagnosed gluten intolerance has made wheat seem decidedly dangerous. Between 1997 and 2015 flour consumption in America fell from 67kg per head to 60kg.

Yet the foodies of Pacific Palisades are not just swayed by science—or even pseudoscience. They are also driven by fashion, which has decreed that some grains are out and others are in. In that sense they are part of a huge global trend. People in many countries are dropping familiar grains for new ones, for reasons to do with agricultural technology, work, health and social aspirations. This shift is more-or-less circular. Everybody is trying to eat more of the grains that better-off people are eating, except the very wealthy, who prize poor people’s food. The story begins in the fields of west Africa.

Aboud Kobena has been growing rice near Tiassalé, in Ivory Coast, since 1991. He has many complaints. The pump that draws water from a nearby river to irrigate his 35-hectare farm is on the blink again. The machines he has bought to speed up harvesting have proved a poor advertisement for Chinese engineering. Labour is expensive, he says, and “people have become lazy.” Worst of all, the price his crops fetch is far lower than a decade ago. The problem, says Mr Kobena, is that now everybody is growing rice.

Africa mostly missed out on the green revolution that boosted agricultural production in Asia from the 1960s onwards. That was partly because of war and lousy government. Another problem is that growing conditions in Africa are both distinct from those in Asia and highly varied across the continent. “We don’t have the same soils, we don’t have the same diseases, we don’t have the same pests,” says Harold Roy-Macauley, the head of Africa Rice, which co-ordinates research in Africa. Yet the continent is beginning to catch up, with rice farmers in the vanguard.

Faster, cheaper, better

Between 2000 and 2014 rice production in west Africa jumped from 7.1m tonnes to 16.8m tonnes (see chart). In Ivory Coast, which is mostly known as a cocoa producer, the rice harvest tripled over that time. New hybrid seed lines developed specifically for Africa, such as NERICA and WITA, have boosted yields and enabled farmers to grow rice in dry areas where sorghum was once the dominant crop.

Rice has long been popular in some west African countries, such as Senegal. It is becoming a staple in much of the region. Thomas Reardon, who studies food at Michigan State University, says that urbanisation is driving demand. Urban workers developed a taste for rice in cafés and now cook it at home. Besides, rice is less fiddly to cook than millet or sorghum, adds Mr Roy-Macauley—a convenience food for Africa’s tired city workers.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation, a branch of the UN, estimates that rice consumption per head is growing faster in sub-Saharan Africa than in any other region. That is likely to persist, because Africa’s cities are adding inhabitants so fast—by 3% a year, on average. So there is plenty of opportunity for African farmers. And African demand is also a boon to the rice-producing countries of Asia. They could do with some new customers, because demand at home is not what it was.

So central is rice to life in Asia that in many countries, rather than asking “how are you?” people ask, “have you eaten rice yet?” Around 90% of the world’s rice is consumed in Asia—60% of it in China, India and Indonesia alone. In every large country except Pakistan, Asians eat more rice than the global average.

Between the early 1960s and the early 1990s, rice consumption per head rose steadily, from an average of 85 kilograms per year to 103. As Asia scraped its way out of poverty people began to consume more food, and rice was available and affordable. In the poorest Asian countries, such as Bangladesh and Cambodia, a full rice bowl remains a sign of plenty (70% of calories come from rice in Bangladesh) and people continue to eat more of it.

But rice consumption is now more-or-less flat in Asia as a whole. In better-off countries rice is going out of fashion. Figures from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) suggest that rice consumption per head has fallen since 2000 in China, Indonesia and South Korea, and has crashed in Singapore. Obeying a rule known as Bennett’s law, wealthier Asians are getting more of their calories from vegetables, fruit, meat, fish and dairy products. And, as in Africa, many people are switching to another grain.

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Whereas roadside stalls in South-East Asia still dish up rice to the masses, fancy shopping malls are increasingly dominated by wheat. A proliferation of bakeries offer traditional European pastries and breads as well as peculiar Asian inventions. BreadTalk, a fast-growing chain based in Singapore, does a roaring business in “floss buns”—sweet white buns larded with butter, coated with egg and rolled in dried shredded pork.

Joseph Lee, the owner of The BreadTable, another Singapore bakery, puts the growth in demand down to tourism and migration. “The more people started to travel, the more they wanted to find European bread when they came home,” he says. “Now we have people asking for sourdough.” He opened in 2013, the first of a rush of European-style bakeries.

Wheat consumption is rising quickly in countries like Thailand and Vietnam (see map). South-East Asian countries will consume 23.4m tonnes of wheat in 2016-17, estimates the USDA—up from 16.5m tonnes in 2012-13. Almost all of it will be imported. In South Asia consumption is expected to grow from 121m to 139m tonnes in the same period. India, which was recently a large net exporter of wheat, has become a net importer. Some of the wheat is for animal feed, but most is simply for eating.

This trend has a long way to run, thinks Rabobank, a bank. South-East Asians still eat only 26kg of wheat a year, much less than the world average of 78kg. They seem unperturbed by price rises: wheat-eating kept growing even as the grain became more expensive between 2009 and 2013, although its use as an animal feed declined. Still, rice will remain central to many Asian cultures. People are unlikely to start greeting each other by asking if they have eaten bagels yet.

Newfangled ancient grains

As west Africans fill their plates with rice, and South-East Asians munch ciabatta, Americans are moving away from both. “You can only eat so many cakes,” suggests Graydon Chong, an analyst at Rabobank. And wheat has new competitors, especially in America’s richest quarters. Or, to be precise, new ancient competitors.

Café Gratitude is a gourmet vegetarian restaurant in Venice Beach, a district of Los Angeles that is health-conscious even by the standards of that metropolis. Each item on the menu is an affirmation, so you are supposed to order a dish called Glorious by announcing, “I am glorious.” Pizza is available (“I am giving”), but it is made from einkorn and Kamut. Side dishes include brown rice and quinoa.

Einkorn and Kamut are both types of wheat. Their promoters say they have long pedigrees and have escaped meddling by modern plant-breeders. Quinoa is something else: the seed of a plant that grows mostly in Central and South America. Such grains, and various others besides, tend to be marketed as “ancient grains”. Supposedly they are healthier and more authentic than plain old rice and wheat. Most assuredly, they are more expensive. A few miles north of Venice Beach, in the Santa Monica farmers’ market, Larry Kandarian sells organic black barley for $9 a pound and Ethiopian blue tinge farro (another kind of wheat) for $7.

The fad for “virtuous” grains is spreading beyond Californian foodies. In 2015 General Mills, a large American food company, introduced a breakfast cereal called “Cheerios + ancient grains” containing Kamut, oats, quinoa and spelt. Ronzoni has created a pasta with amaranth, millet, quinoa, sorghum and teff. Datassential, a market-research firm that tracks restaurant menus, reports that 9% of casual restaurants and 16% of “fine dining” ones offered quinoa in 2016. Sorghum, which Americans have long fed to livestock, is also creeping onto menus for people. So is millet, which is normally treated as birdseed.

It is too early to tell whether ancient grains are more than a fad. Although global quinoa production rose from 58,000 tonnes in 2008 to 193,000 tonnes in 2014, it is still a trivial crop compared with rice, wheat or maize. The most important cereals benefit from dense networks of agricultural research institutes that work to raise yields and suppress pests and diseases. They are often subsidised.

Yet it is consumers, not governments, who ultimately drive changes in diets. And consumers almost everywhere seem to have acquired a taste for novelty. Packaged foods are becoming more popular even in poor African and Asian countries, says Mr Reardon. He is especially struck by the rise of wheat noodles in Africa. Indomie, an Indonesian firm, started making noodles in Nigeria in the mid-1990s. It now has several rivals in that country, and demand is rising elsewhere in west Africa. The reign of rice might prove brief

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21718508-west-africans-are-eating-more-asians-asians-are-eating-more-americans-and

Clean rice processing cuts costs, emissions

Update: March, 10/2017 - 09:00

Rice grown using organic fertiliser in the southern province of Hậu Giang yields an average of 8.5 tonnes per hectare, 1.5 tonne per hectare higher than when traditional fertilisers are used. The environment benefits and farmers earn more profit. — VNA/VNS Photo Duy Khương

HCM CITY — The Sông Hậu Food Company, a rice exporter, has reduced its energy consumption by 983,764 kWh in the past four years, saving US$62,615.

An official of its parent company, Vinafood 2, said reduced energy costs helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enables cleaner rice production.

The result was achieved under a project applying efficient, cleaner production methods, said Phạm Văn Tỏ, deputy manager of Vinafood 2’s Technical and Construction Department.

He said that in rice processing, electricity costs usually account for 20 to 35 per cent of total production costs.

Energy is usually one of the highest costs a company faces. If it can reduce energy consumption by just a few per cent, it can make a significant savings along with contributing to greenhouse gas reduction, he said.

In 2013, the corporation had approached the Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production Programme (RECP), a UNIDO-UNEP joint programme financed by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by Sofies (a consultancy in Switzerland) and the Việt Nam Cleaner Production Centre Co Ltd (VNCPC).

A pilot project was implemented in two member enterprises, Sông Hậu Food Company and An Giang Food and Foodstuff Company in 2013, and expanded to six other member companies in March last year.

Trần Văn Nhân, director of VNCPC, said the rice industry’s export achievements of the past years came at the cost of adverse impacts on the environment during production and processing.

From the entire rice value chain, the project chose to pilot the processing phase, since this has the largest impact on the environment, he said.

“We realise that there is a great potential to turn waste resulting from rice milling into biomass energy, which significantly contributes to reducing climate change.”

In addition, with energy costs accounting for 35-40 per cent of rice production costs, “if we can save a part of the largest expenditure, it will significantly help businesses reduce production costs and increase profits and competitiveness,” he said.

Through many activities - including cleaner production audits at participating companies, supporting companies in identifying cleaner production technologies and application strategies and training - the project has helped firms improve their energy efficiency.

It has also suggested measures to turn waste into biomass energy.

Dr. Martin Fritsch of Sofies said Việt Nam was a leading rice exporter, focusing on large volumes. It was facing quality challenges that weakened its competitiveness.

The sector needs to effect changes to meet an increase in demand for higher quality rice by creating incentives for rice farmers and millers to adopt sustainable production practices, he said.

This would also help to avoid continuous degradation of natural resources, such as soil and water, he said.

The project aims to promote efficient use of natural resources, including materials, water and energy and minimise waste and emissions, including those discharged into the water, air and land.

Delegates at a recent conference titled “Towards a Sustainable Agro-Industrial Ecosystem in the Mekong Delta in Việt Nam-Focus on the Rice Value Chain,” said the project will enter its "mainstreaming phase" this year.

A broader collaboration between all stakeholders was necessary to align interests along the value chain and to achieve a “sustainable mainstreaming effect for the Vietnamese rice sector,” they added. — VNS

http://vietnamnews.vn/society/372273/clean-rice-processing-cuts-costs-emissions.html#MDJjzqUjDOHOgbXL.99

Farmers object to NFA extension of deadline for rice imports

By: Ronnel W. Domingo - @inquirerdotnet

Inquirer Northern Luzon / 06:35 PM March 10, 2017

The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) on Friday urged the National Food Authority (NFA) Council to reconsider its decision of extending the arrival of private-sector rice imports to March 31, considering that local farmers had already started harvesting their produce.

Just two-thirds of 600,000 metric tons – or 400,000 metric tons – of imports through the minimum access volume mechanism of the World Trade Organization arrived before the original deadlilne of Feb. 28, according to FFF President Leonardo Q. Montemayor, a former agriculture secretary.

In a statement, Montemayor said quota holders had been lobbying the NFA Council to extend the deadline so that they could bring in the balance of 200,000 metric tons.

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But he said: “Extending the deadline will benefit only a few moneyed importers at the expense of millions of rice farmers who have started harvesting their dry season crop.”

Montemayor added that palay (unhusked rice) traders, who buy up to 95 percent of farmers’ produce, will lower their buying prices if they know that cheaper imports of rice will enter the country and compete with their locally purchased grains.

“Every one peso decline in palay prices takes away up to P6 billion from small farmers,” he said. “This is equivalent to a reduction of 20 percent of the net income of farmers from their summer crop.”

Ruben D. Presilda, FFF vice president for Luzon, said rice farmers were still recovering from the effects of the long dry season caused by the El Niño in 2015-2016 as well as the series of typhoons that hit the country in 2016.

“Now, they are in danger of facing another calamity, this time man-made, if the NFA Council gives in to the demand of rice importers,” Presilda said. “This directly contradicts the instructions of President Duterte for government agencies to prioritize their support for the poor, including the rice farmers.” /atm

http://business.inquirer.net/225901/farmers-object-nfa-extension-deadline-rice-imports#ixzz4b0c8qRsn 

 

Nigeria: Sultan Urges Govt to Relax Ban On Rice, Vehicle Imports

By Rakiya A. Muhammad

Sokoto — Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Saad Abubakar has appealed to the Federal Government to relax its ban on importation of rice and vehicles through land borders.The royal father stated this when he received Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at his palace in Sokoto yesterday.

"These are hard times therefore policies should not be put in place to further tighten the noose on the neck of the people. There are certain polices being brought up by certain agencies and I believe government should look at such policies so as not to bring disharmony between the government and the governed," he said.

He said such policies to include ban on importation vehicles and rice through land borders.

"The government need to look at these and ensure such policies do not bring further hardship and clash with security agencies and with other people," he added.

The Sultan assured the acting president of sustained support, loyalty and commitment.

Prof Osinbajo, who was accompanied to the palace by Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, described Sokoto State as one of the states regarded as being in the forefront of agricultural revolution.

"I believe very strongly that the way to go is the development of agriculture and all of the agro allied value chain," he said

http://allafrica.com/stories/201703100698.html

U.S. Medium Grain Rice Featured at FOODEX in Japan 

By Deborah Willenborg

 TOKYO, JAPAN -- USA Rice hit the ground running on Tuesday, the first day of FOODEX 2017, the largest annual food and beverage tradeshow in Asia, with a taste-testing activity featuring U.S. medium grain rice.  The cold menu dish, "U.S. Medium Grain Rice Salad Sushi Style," was well received by the more than 500 trade visitors who stopped by the U. S. Embassy Agriculture Trade Office (ATO) booth for a sampling, and will be one of the recipes included in a promotion highlighting new usages of U.S. medium grain rice for this market.

"A positive take-away from the sampling activity was more visitors were aware of U.S. medium grain than in the past," said Jim Guinn, director of USA Rice Asia Promotion Programs.  "There were also more foodservice operators in attendance who are already using U.S. medium grain rice." 

USA Rice also conducted a survey of more than 40 traders about how they use U.S. medium grain rice in their menus, introduced the new U.S. medium grain deli menu book, and reminded everyone of the annual menu contest targeting chefs and deli operators tentatively scheduled for August 2017.

"U.S. medium grain rice has made great strides in the last year with two new wholesalers who target small foodservice operations now carrying Calrose and two new retail chains also carrying the product," said USA Rice Vice President International Hugh Maginnis  "Japan was our third largest export market in 2016, importing 346,800 MT of U.S. rice."

 

Rice growers awash in import problems

Charley Mathews Jr. says rice farmers try to do everything they can to improve efficiencies, lower costs and increase production without sacrificing quality.

By JULIA HOLLISTER

For the Capital Press

Published on March 9, 2017 10:14AM

COURTESY OF BRIAN BAER

Charley Mathews Jr., a rice grower near Marysville, Calif., says California is the world’s low-cost producer of sushi rice. Rice is not as labor intensive as other crops and uses only as much water as any other row crop.

Charley Mathews Jr. grew up working in his family’s rice fields.“Like many farm kids, I started to drive a tractor when I was 12, irrigated rice in the summertime, and always participated when I could for planting and harvest,” he said.

He grew up near Marysville, Calif., where he still farms.

Mathews grows medium, premium medium and sweet rice. The medium and short grain varieties grown in California have all the characteristics of Japanese rice — soft and sticky — which is prefect for sushi. California is the world’s low-cost producer of sushi rice, and it is marketed around the world.

Like most crops, rice faces insect and weed pests, he said.

“Since rice is grown in an aquatic environment under a continuous flood, many aquatic weeds thrive and compete with rice for sunlight and nutrients,” he said. “The rest of the weeds are drowned by deep water.”

Insects are a minor challenge but require constant monitoring, he said.

Rice, Mathews said, has historically been viewed as a water-intensive crop. It actually uses about as much water as any other row crop.

Rice is grown in heavy clay and hardpan soils that have an impermeable layer below the root zone that does not allow water to percolate downward.

This soil type would drown trees and other row crops, but is perfect for rice. It does not suffer from salt buildup or any other long-lasting issues.

“I have a rice field that has been in continuous production for almost 80 years,” he said. “The yields seem to go up every year.”

Rice is not as labor-intensive as many other crops and growing it is highly mechanized. With expensive machinery to operate, it is important that growers find talented labor who can get the most out of the equipment.

“Rice growers have several challenges,” he said. “The ones we face locally have to do with air and water quality, and that fact that we are competing with an encroaching urban population that does not like noise or dust.”

Through the efforts of the California Rice Commission, he said, new urban neighbors are beginning to understand the environmental and social value of a rice field.

“Outside California we are challenged with a strong dollar that makes us less competitive,” he said. “Other rice-growing countries are illegally subsidizing their rice production to keep world prices low and unprofitable for us.”In addition, World Trade Organization trading partners are not allowing California rice on store shelves in their countries as a way to protect their own rice growers, he said.

Imported rice has been competitive with California rice. It is mostly Jasmine from Thailand and Basmati from India. They are very different varieties but are taking normal customers away, he said.

“No one in the rice industry takes what we have for granted,” Mathews said. “We have watched other California crops like sugar beets simply disappear due to poor economics and world competition.”

He said rice farmers try to do everything they can to improve efficiencies, lower costs and increase production without sacrificing quality.“But at the end of the day, we can only do so much and greatly depend on customers that understand the real value of our product and not just a simple commodity,” he said.

http://www.capitalpress.com/SpecialSections/Seed/20170309/rice-growers-awash-in-import-problems

Farmers object to NFA extension of deadline for rice imports

March 10, 2017

The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) on Friday urged the National Food Authority (NFA) Council to rethink its choice of extending the arrival of private-sector rice imports to March 31, contemplating that native farmers had already began harvesting their produce.

Just two-thirds of 600,000 metric tons – or 400,000 metric tons – of imports by the minimal entry quantity mechanism of the World Trade Organization arrived earlier than the unique deadlilne of Feb. 28, in accordance to FFF President Leonardo Q. Montemayor, a former agriculture secretary.

In a press release, Montemayor stated quota holders had been lobbying the NFA Council to lengthen the deadline in order that they may deliver within the stability of 200,000 metric tons.

But he stated: “Extending the deadline will benefit only a few moneyed importers at the expense of millions of rice farmers who have started harvesting their dry season crop.”

Montemayor added that palay (unhusked rice) merchants, who purchase up to 95 p.c of farmers’ produce, will decrease their shopping for costs in the event that they know that cheaper imports of rice will enter the nation and compete with their domestically bought grains.

“Every one peso decline in palay prices takes away up to P6 billion from small farmers,” he stated. “This is equivalent to a reduction of 20 percent of the net income of farmers from their summer crop.”

Ruben D. Presilda, FFF vp for Luzon, stated rice farmers have been nonetheless recovering from the consequences of the lengthy dry season attributable to the El Niño in 2015-2016 in addition to the sequence of typhoons that hit the nation in 2016.

“Now, they are in danger of facing another calamity, this time man-made, if the NFA Council gives in to the demand of rice importers,” Presilda stated. “This directly contradicts the instructions of President Duterte for government agencies to prioritize their support for the poor, including the rice farmers.” /atm

Source: inquirer

https://www.ofwnewsfeed.com/farmers-object-to-nfa-extension-of-deadline-for-rice-imports/

Bulog targets cultivating paddy on one million hectares of land

Photo document of farmers take care of paddy rice crops Samata in Gowa, South Sulawesi, on Tuesday (7/2/2017). (ANTARA/Yusran Uccang)

Palu (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian National Logistics Agency (Bulog) has set a target to implement its on farm program for cultivating paddy on one million hectares of land this year."We are optimistic that our target to plant paddy on one million hectares of rice fields through the on farm program would be materialized," Imam Subowo, director of business and industry development of Bulog, stated here, Friday.

Subowo was in Central Sulawesi for the first harvest of paddy for the 2017 harvest season conducted under the on farm program in Sidondo Village, Sigi District, 40 kilometers from Palu.

The on farm program comprises the farmers self-reliance on farm program wherein the cost is entirely borne by the farmers, and the paddy produced under the program will be bought by Bulog at a standard price set by the government and Bulogs on farm program whose cost is funded fully by the logistics agency.

Bulog has also implemented the working partners on farm program, with financing from banks, and the farmers working partners and synergy on farm programs involving the participation of state-owned and private companies. 

Of the target of one million hectares across the country, some 300 hectares have been materialized so far.

For South Sulawesi alone, this years target is 12 thousand hectares, and only 300 hectares have been materialized so far, Suprianto, head of the Bulog chapter in Central Sulawesi, remarked.

Paddy producing regions in Central Sulawesi include Donggala, Parigi Moutong, Poso, Sigi, Banggai, and Tolitoli

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/109869/bulog-targets-cultivating-paddy-on-one-million-hectares-of-land

Chatchai bans third round of rice growing to avoid water shortage

March 10, 2017 15:27 
By The Nation

Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikalya has banned the third round of rice growing. "It must be banned even in irrigation zones,” Chatchai said during his visit to Chainat province on Friday. Each round of rice growing takes about 100 days to yield crops. Authorities have been trying to encourage farmers to grow rice only during the rainy season to avoid the risk of water shortage. 

According to Chatchai, farmers in the Chao Phraya River Basin have already engaged in the second round of rice growing and they will be able to harvest soon. “But we have no plan to irrigate water for them for the third round of rice growing. So, do not grow rice after the end of the second round,” he said. 

As of March 9, 34 major dams in Thailand had more than 19.98 billion cubic metres of disposable water. Although the volume is much larger than the same period last year, there is sill a risk that many areas beyond irrigation zones may face a water shortage.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/breakingnews/30308553

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open-March 10,2017

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices – APMC/Open Market-March 10

Nagpur, Mar 10 (Reuters) – Gram and tuar prices moved down in Nagpur Agriculture Producing and

Marketing Committee (APMC) on poor demand from local traders amid increased overseas arrival.

Easy condition in Madhya Pradesh gram and tuar prices and poor quality arrival also pulled down

prices in restricted trading activity, according to sources.

    FOODGRAINS & PULSES

   GRAM

   * Desi gram reported higher in open market on good Holi festival season demand from 

     local traders.  

   TUAR

   * Tuar gavarani moved down in open market on lack of demand from local traders amid 

     high moisture content arrival.            

   * In Akola, Tuar New – 4,400-4,500, Tuar dal (clean) – 6,700-6,900, Udid Mogar (clean)

    – 8,500-9,000, Moong Mogar (clean) 6,600-6,900, Gram – 5,000-5,100, Gram Super best 

     bold – 7,500-7,700 for 100 kg.

   * Wheat, rice and other commodities moved in a narrow range in 

     scattered deals and settled at last levels. 

 Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg

     FOODGRAINS                 Available prices     Previous close   

     Gram Auction                     4,400-4,880         4,500-5,100

     Gram Pink Auction            n.a.           2,100-2,600

     Tuar Auction                4,000-4,050         4,000-5,200

     Moong Auction                n.a.                6,400-6,600

     Udid Auction                n.a.           4,300-4,500

     Masoor Auction                n.a.              2,600-2,800

     Gram Super Best Bold            7,500-8,000        7,500-8,000

     Gram Super Best            n.a.            n.a.

     Gram Medium Best            6,600-7,000        6,600-7,000

     Gram Dal Medium            n.a.            n.a

     Gram Mill Quality            4,700-4,800        4,700-4,800

     Desi gram Raw                5,000-5,300         4,950-5,250

     Gram Yellow                 7,700-8,200        7,700-8,200

     Gram Kabuli                11,800-13,000        11,800-13,000

     Tuar Fataka Best-New             6,800-7,000        6,800-7,000

     Tuar Fataka Medium-New        6,400-6,600        6,400-6,600

     Tuar Dal Best Phod-New        6,000-6,200        6,000-6,200

     Tuar Dal Medium phod-New        5,500-5,800        5,500-5,800

     Tuar Gavarani New             4,550-4,750        4,600-4,800

     Tuar Karnataka             4,550-4,750        4,550-4,750

     Masoor dal best            5,600-5,800        5,600-5,800

     Masoor dal medium            5,300-5,500        5,300-5,500

     Masoor                    n.a.            n.a.

     Moong Mogar bold (New)        6,900-7,200         6,900-7,200

     Moong Mogar Medium            6,200-6,600        6,200-6,600

     Moong dal Chilka            5,500-6,100        5,500-6,100

     Moong Mill quality            n.a.            n.a.

     Moong Chamki best            6,100-6,900        6,000-6,700

     Udid Mogar best (100 INR/KG) (New) 8,500-9,500       8,500-9,500 

     Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG)    7,600-8,000        7,500-8,000    

     Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG)        5,300-5,600        5,300-5,600     

     Batri dal (100 INR/KG)        5,200-5,500        5,200-5,500

     Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg)          3,600-3,800         3,600-3,800

     Watana Dal (100 INR/KG)            3,000-3,100        3,000-3,100

     Watana White (100 INR/KG)           3,200-3,400           3,200-3,400

     Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG)    3,800-4,300        3,800-4,300   

     Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG)        2,000-2,100        2,000-2,100

     Wheat Mill quality (100 INR/KG)    2,000-2,100        2,000-2,100   

     Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG)         2,100-2,300           2,100-2,300         

     Wheat Lokwan new (100 INR/KG)    1,950-2,400        2,000-2,350

     Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG)    2,350-2,550        2,350-2,550    

     Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG)   2,050-2,350        2,050-2,350

     Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG)    n.a.            n.a.

     MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG)    3,600-4,200        3,600-4,200    

     MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG)    2,700-3,200        2,700-3,200           

     Rice BPT new (100 INR/KG)        2,800-3,200        2,800-3,200

     Rice BPT best (100 INR/KG)        3,200-3,600        3,200-3,600    

     Rice BPT medium (100 INR/KG)        2,700-3,000        2,700-3,000    

     Rice Luchai (100 INR/KG)         2,200-2,500        2,200-2,500

     Rice Swarna new (100 INR/KG)       2,250-2,450        2,250-2,450   

     Rice Swarna best (100 INR/KG)      2,400-2,600        2,400-2,600   

     Rice Swarna medium (100 INR/KG)      2,300-2,400        2,300-2,400   

     Rice HMT New (100 INR/KG)        3,200-3,600        3,200-3,600

     Rice HMT best (100 INR/KG)           3,800-4,200        3,800-4,200    

     Rice HMT medium (100 INR/KG)        3,200-3,500        3,200-3,500    

     Rice Shriram New(100 INR/KG)           4,200-4,600        4,200-4,600

     Rice Shriram best 100 INR/KG)    5,200-5,500        5,200-5,500 

     Rice Shriram med (100 INR/KG)    4,700-5,000        4,700-5,000   

     Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG)    9,300-13,400        9,200-13,300     

     Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG)    5,100-6,300        5,000-6,200    

     Rice Chinnor New(100 INR/KG)        4,600-4,800        4,600-4,800

     Rice Chinnor best 100 INR/KG)    5,600-6,200        5,600-6,200    

     Rice Chinnor medium (100 INR/KG)    5,100-5,500        5,100-5,500   

     Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG)        2,000-2,300        2,000-2,300    

     Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG)         1,900-2,000        1,900-2,000

WEATHER (NAGPUR)  

Maximum temp. 35.9 degree Celsius, minimum temp. 20.8 degree Celsius 

Rainfall : Nil

FORECAST: Mainly clear sky. Maximum and minimum temperature would be around and 35 and 20 degree

Celsius respectively.

Note: n.a.--not available

(For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, butincluded in market prices)

http://in.reuters.com/article/nagpur-foodgrain-idINL3N1GN301

VN amends legal documents to remove barrier to rice exports

VietNamNet Bridge - Decree 109 dated in 2010, described as a significant barrier to rice exports, will be amended by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT). 

Under the decree, exporters must have storehouses with the capacity of 5,000 tons and a husking workshop with the capacity of 10 tons per hour at minimum.

The rigid regulation does not encourage enterprises to focus on developing low-yield high-quality rice.

The Vien Phu Trade & Production JSC was the first Vietnamese company which obtained the USDA and the EU certificate on organic rice. It has 250 hectares of organic rice growing area with the expected output of 1,000 tons. If it has to spend money to build a storehouse and husking workshop as required, it won’t be able to save on production costs, which will weaken the competitiveness of its products.

Also under the regulation, exporters must have the minimum reserves to ensure sufficient goods for fulfilling export contracts equal to 10 percent of the export volume of the last six months. 

Rice exporters have called to remove the requirement, saying that it is unreasonable to force export companies to reserve rice in the context of unstable consumption.

Rice exporters have called to remove the requirement, saying that it is unreasonable to force export companies to reserve rice in the context of unstable consumption.Regarding the regulations on material growing area, the Decision 606 released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) in 2015 said the businessmen who export less than 50,000 tons a year must have the growing area of 500 hectares in the first year and have 300 more hectares each year from the second year.

In theory, the requirement places big difficulties for enterprises, because they have to expand the material growing areas while they are not sure about consumption which depends on supply & demand in the world market. Meanwhile, it is not easy to expand the area because the land fund is limited.

Ngo Van Nam, general director of ADC, said that developing material growing areas is a must for export companies. However, expanding the areas should be an ‘encouragement’ rather than ‘obligation’.

The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) has the right to set the floor export prices after considering global market demand & supply and domestic rice production.

However, the floor price mechanism is not liked by rice exporters, who say it is unreasonable to fix the floor export price as prices in the world market always fluctuate.

This explained why in 2011, VFA had to adjust the floor prices eight times, including seven times adjusted within the first quarter of the year.

The regular adjustments of floor prices make it difficult for rice exporters to take the initiative in exporting products

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/174155/vn-amends-legal-documents-to-remove-barrier-to-rice-exports.html

Iraq has not yet made purchase in 30,000 T rice tender -traders

10 March, 2017

    

A man sorts out newly harvested rice stalks and grains in a village in Najaf November 13, 2007. REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish

Reuters/Ali Abu Shish

HAMBURG, March 10 (Reuters) - Iraq's state grains buyer has not yet made a purchase in an international tender seeking least 30,000 tonnes of rice which closed this week, traders told Reuters on Friday. 

"I think there is general belief the tender has been cancelled but there has been no official confirmation of a cancellation," one European trader said. "Nothing has been bought yet, but you cannot rule out a purchase in later talks despite offers passing their validity date." 

The tender closed on March 5 with offers having to remain valid up to Thursday, March 9, they said. 

The lowest price offered was $404.50 a tonne c&f free out made for 40,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand. 

Iraq's last reported rice purchase was 30,000 tonnes from Argentina on Feb. 6. But this purchase was made several days after offers had expired on Jan. 29 in its previous international tender. 

(Reporting by Michael Hogan; Editing by Alexander Smith) 

https://www.zawya.com/mena/en/story/Iraq_has_not_yet_made_purchase_in_30000_T_rice_tender_traders-TR20170310nL5N1GN17FX2/

Sultan to FG: Review ban on importation of rice, cars

ON MARCH 10, 20175:43 AMIN NEWSCOMMENTS

By Abdallah el-Kurebe The Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar III, has called on the Federal Government to reverse the ban on importation of rice and vehicles through the land borders. Speaking at his palace, when Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, paid a courtesy call yesterday, the Sultan emphasised the need for government to have a rethink on some policies that were not people-friendly.

The Sultan of Sokoto The royal father said: “We will continue to serve as the voices of the voiceless and in this direction; we are calling on the Federal Government to look into some recent policies that will further tighten the noose on the necks of Nigerians. “Nigerians are already going through difficult times and policies should not be taken to further aggravate the suffering of Nigerians. This will also create disharmony between the government and the governed.” While giving examples of the ban on the importation of rice and vehicles through land borders, the Sultan noted that the policies had heightened the suffering of Nigerians, adding “even though the two policies are meant to stop smuggling and boost revenue, they are ill-timed.

” He said that the traditional institution would continue to support and advise governments at all levels. According to him, “we will always work for the peace, unity, stability and socio-economic development of the country. We also assure government of our total support, loyalty and commitment to the Federal Government.” Earlier, the Acting President maintained that agriculture and solid minerals were key in economic diversification. Professor Osinbajo said: “The development of agriculture and agro-allied value chains are key in this direction. Sokoto State is in the forefront of agricultural revolution to bring back the country to the path of sustainable development. “Agencies of the Federal Government would continue to facilitate trade and commerce in the nation.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/03/sultan-fg-review-ban-importation-rice-cars/