Thursday, July 13, 2017

13th July,2017 daily global,regional and local rice e-newsletter by riceplus magazine

Pakistan could eat India’s share of basmati rice exports

13 July,2017

KARACHI: Pakistan could target India’s basmati rice share in the global market, a likelihood sparked by stringent policies placed by the European Union (EU) on the presence of hazardous pesticides in the commodity, said an official. From January 1, 2018, all countries that export basmati rice to the EU must bring down the maximum residue limit (MRL) level for Tricyclazole, a pesticide, to 0.01 mg per kg. Up till now, the EU was accepting 0.03 mg per kg from different countries, including India.

The chance that Pakistan could eat up a share of India’s market comes from the fact that the country’s farmers do not use such chemicals to protect their crops. However, Indian farmers widely use the pesticide under scrutiny and exporters fear that up to 95% of basmati shipments could take a hit by the new regulation. Since new EU regulations could completely choke off Indian basmati exports, an Indian government delegation is leaving for Brussels this week to discuss the restrictions.

On the other hand, a Pakistani basmati exporter says this presents an opportunity to grab India’s market share, because it will at least take two cycles to reduce the consumption of Tricyclazole in the country.

“Pakistan currently exports 100,000 tons of basmati to the EU a year, which can go up to 250,000 tons per annum after EU regulations,” Matco Foods Pvt Limited Director Faizan Ali Ghori told The Express Tribune. India, the world’s biggest exporter of basmati rice with a share of about 70%, exported 350,000 tons of basmati to the EU worth $268 million in fiscal year 2016-17. Raising Rs1 billion from the stock market Meanwhile, Matco Foods – one of the leading basmati rice exporters in Pakistan – is expecting to raise Rs1 billion through the Initial Public Offering (IPO) it has planned for around September this year.

The company plans to invest the proceeds in its two rice glucose plants in Karachi. Rice glucose is the main ingredient for pharmaceutical, confectionery, and juice industries. “We want to move towards value added products to increase exports,” said Ghori. The company exports rice to over 60 countries. Matco’s first rice glucose with a capacity of 10,000 tons per annum is being commissioned in Karachi at an investment of Rs350 million. The other factory will have a capacity of 20,000 tons that will be set up in the next one to two years. The company will prefer international markets as it expects to fetch as much as $11,000 per ton against a price range of just $400-$500 per ton in the domestic market, Ghori said, adding that there is a growing demand in western markets for rice glucose.

Currently, there are two rice glucose factories in Pakistan – both in Karachi due to proximity to ports and export markets. Matco’s management believes the demand for rice glucose will increase because it is not genetically modified and safer for children. At present, over 90% domestic demand of pharmaceutical and confectionary industries is being met by corn glucose. CPEC opens avenues for agri-exports“There is so much room for diversification in rice exports because Pakistan does not make value added products from rice that have huge domestic as well as international demand,” he added. Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2017. Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1456663/pakistan-eat-indias-share-basmati-rice-exports/

Fading aroma: Basmati’s latest challenge

The AIREA workshops have been focusing on educating farmers about the EU decision and advising them to spray Tricyclazole just once before the ‘boot leaf’ stage, while the developing panicle is still to emerge from the stem.The AIREA workshops have been focusing on educating farmers about the EU decision and advising them to spray Tricyclazole just once before the ‘boot leaf’ stage, while the developing panicle is still to emerge from the stem.

Baldev Kumar is a confused man these days. The source of it is a recommendation that experts made at a recent workshop conducted by the All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA). The 36-year-old farmer, who attended the workshop not far from his village of Lali in Ratia tehsil of Haryana’s Fatehabad district, was told not to spray the fungicide Tricyclazole beyond 70-75 days after transplanting of the popular Pusa-1401 basmati paddy variety.

“It’s difficult to follow this recommendation. In some seasons, especially when humidity levels are high, we may have to spray the fungicide (against leaf and neck blast disease in rice) even 3-4 times. And that could be even after 90 days,” Kumar told The Indian Express over phone. The ongoing “farmer awareness” camps — AIREA has already held five of them in Sirsa, Fatehabad and Kaithal, districts having significant acreages under Pusa-1401 and Pusa Basmati-1 varieties that are particularly vulnerable to blast — follows a recent European Union (EU) decision to bring down the maximum residue limits (MRL) for Tricyclazole in imported rice shipments to 0.01 parts per million (ppm).

This is as against the existing tolerance level of one ppm (one ppm is 1 mg/kg; 0.01 ppm equals 1 mg/100 kg). “Out of India’s annual 40 lakh tonnes (lt) basmati exports valued at around Rs 22,000 crore, 3.5 lt goes to the EU. Much of it constitutes Pusa-1401 and Pusa Basmati-1 rice. The EU action reducing the MRL for Tricyclazole to default levels can significantly affect our shipments and amounts to a non-tariff barrier. Our government should take this up, more so because not a single health-related incidence has been reported from the use of this cost-effective fungicide,”, said Vijay Setia, president of AIREA. The blast fungus primarily infects the leaf and neck nodes of the main stem from which the grain-bearing earheads or panicles emerge.

The infected tissues after a point turn black and shrivel, causing the stem to break. The panicles may have partially formed grains in their early milky stage. Either way, the end-result is severe yield loss. The AIREA workshops have been focusing on educating farmers about the EU decision and advising them to spray Tricyclazole just once before the ‘boot leaf’ stage, while the developing panicle is still to emerge from the stem. Booting happens about 70 days after transplantation (or 100 days from seeding in the nursery), which leaves another 45 days for flowering, grain-filling and final ripening.

“Tricyclazole residues remain in the plant for 30-35 days. So, if spraying is done at booting stage, the molecules will break down and there will hardly be any residues during maturity. Farmers now are applying even at grain-formation stage,” explains A.K. Gupta, director of the Basmati Export Development Foundation, a society under the Union Commerce Ministry’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority. Farmers are, however, not fully convinced. “The scientists are saying that just a single spray is enough. But what if there is a severe attack of gardan-marod (the local term for blast, literally meaning “curling of neck”), which is always possible in varieties that take 145-150 days to mature?

If this EU decision was known earlier, I wouldn’t have sown Pusa-1501. There is nothing more effective against gardan-marod than Tricyclazole,” claims Baldev Kumar who has planted the long-duration improved basmati on 16 out of his 22-acres holding. He sums up the dilemma now facing farmers like him: “If we go against the recommendation of the exporters and scientists, we will lose our market. But if we follow their advice, we may even lose our crop”. Jaspal Singh from Nangal Shama, a village in the outskirts of Jalandhar, has been cultivating basmati on three out of his six-acre farm for the past 15-odd years.

He has also been spraying Tricyclazole on his crop 2-3 times, often even 80-90 days after transplanting. “We spray whenever some blackening of the leaves (for leaf blast) or stem (for neck blast) is visible. Nobody from the Punjab Agricultural University or the state agriculture department has provided us any guidelines on application of this fungicide. But suddenly now, we are being told to limit its spraying,” he remarked.

Jaspal Singh fortunately grows Pusa-1121, a basmati variety less susceptible to blast, unlike Pusa Basmati-1 and Pusa-1401 that are more widely cultivated in Haryana; Sirsa district alone has an estimated 60,000-70,000 hectares under the latter two varieties. At the same time, Pusa-1121 is prone to bacterial blight attacks that cause wilting of seedlings and drying of leaves. A K Singh, head of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute’s genetics division, feels that farmers cannot risk too much of pesticide applications in basmati, given the huge export market for this rice and the need to preserve its premium quality character.

The New Delhi-based institute, which has developed all the well-known Pusa basmati varieties, has in recent times been working on “breeding for disease-resistance”, as an alternative to spraying of pesticides. Such breeding involves introduction of genes, from both traditional landrace cultivars as well as wild relatives of paddy, into existing high-yielding basmati varieties.

The transfer of the target genes from resistant donor lines is being done through advanced molecular breeding based on marker-assisted selection. “We have just released three such varieties bred specifically for resistance. The first is Pusa-1637, which is an improved Pusa Basmati-1 incorporating resistance to neck and leaf blast. The second is Pusa-1728, an improved Pusa-101 variety having bacterial blight resistance.

The third, Pusa-1718, is Pusa-1121 that is also resistant to bacterial blight,” he informed. As these varieties get planted in fields — their seeds have already been supplied to select farmers and companies for multiplication — there should hopefully be less need to spray chemicals encountering increasing buyer resistance in Europe and other premium-value markets.

http://indianexpress.com/article/business/business-others/fading-aroma-basmatis-latest-challenge-rice-export-pusa-airea-4748107/

Varanasi hub for 'miracle rice' maker

Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, July 12: The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines is set to establish a South Asian Regional Centre in Varanasi that crop scientists say will help improve the yield and quality of rice mainly for eastern Indian states.

The Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today approved the establishment of the IRRI's regional centre to be hosted at the National Seed Research and Training Centre, a government laboratory in Varanasi, and expected to be commissioned within six months.

Indian rice research scientists say the new centre will elevate collaboration with the IRRI that dates back to the 1960s when it worked with Indian scientists to develop IR8, a rice variety with nearly double the yield used in the country then.

"The IR8 variety was called miracle rice - it set off the green revolution in rice in India," said Himanshu Pathak, director of the Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha. The IR8 yield was about eight tonnes per hectare compared with about three tonnes available from varieties used across India then.

The IR8 was a semi-dwarf variety, Pathak said, and different from the rice varieties cultivated in India during the 1960s that were tall, low-yielding, and were not responsive to fertilisers. Its introduction and rice breeding efforts since then have allowed the country to steadily raise production.

Many crop scientists believe the next big jump in rice production in the country is likely to be driven by increasing per hectare yields in the eastern states where the current average production is lower than in other parts of the country.

The Varanasi centre will work on special rice varieties to further improve the per hectare yields of rice and improve its nutrition content through modern plant breeding strategies and on post-harvesting activities to reduce wastage, add value and generate higher in come for farmers.

"We're hoping to get new rice varieties rich in iron and zinc," said Jeet Singh Sandhu, deputy director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, a member of the coordination committee of the proposed centre.

"This will be through conventional breeding - our own scientists are already engaged in efforts to improve the nutritional value of rice. Some varieties rich in protein and zinc have been developed," Sandhu said.

Senior officials in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research expect the regional centre to focus on rice varieties for use by farmers in eastern India as well as in South Asian and African countries.

"The average per hectare rice yield in many places in eastern India is significantly lower than in the north-western states," said Arvind Nath Singh, director of the National Seed Research and Training Centre that will host the laboratories and infrastructure for the regional centre.

The IRRI is a member of a consortium of international agricultural research centres engaged in improving food security worldwide. Other consortium members are involved in maize, wheat, potato, semi-arid crops, aquatic resources, food policy and forestry

https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170713/jsp/nation/story_161710.jsp

PH to compensate for extension of QR on rice, says Neda chief

By: Ben O. de Vera - Reporter / @bendeveraINQ

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:45 PM July 12, 2017

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia (File photo by JOAN BONDOC / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Economic managers will ask President Rodrigo Duterte to certify as urgent a bill that will slap a tariff on all rice imports in order to finally do away with the quota system and avoid sanctions from the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia.

Pernia told reporters late Monday that, while the President in April signed Executive Order No. 23, which he said was aimed at eventually lifting the quantitative restriction (QR) on the Filipino food staple, the EO provided for a three-year extension of the QR while in transition towards tariffication.

To ultimately remove the QR, the over one-decade-old Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996 (Republic Act No. 8178), which put the rice import quota in place, must be amended.

Pernia, who also heads the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), said Sen. Ralph Recto already filed in the Senate a measure to remove the QR.

“In the meantime, as the deliberations in Congress will take some time, what we are trying to do is to not infuriate the members of the WTO, in terms of retaliation,” Pernia said.

Specifically, Pernia said: “We are planning to extend the concessions on lower tariffs to certain products or minimum access volume of 5,200 metric tons that will be granted to interested WTO parties up to June 2020 or up to the time Congress approves the official lifting of QR and replacing them with tariffication, whichever comes first.”

The concessions would be on agricultural products, Pernia said.

The Neda chief nonetheless said he was hopeful that “the approval of the tariffication will come sooner so that we don’t have to be extending concessions.”

Pernia said Neda would back up the proposal of state-run think tank Philippine Institute of Development Studies to set the import duty on rice at 35 percent.

In 2014, the WTO allowed the Philippines to extend its QR on rice until June 30, 2017, in a bid to buy more time for local farmers to prepare for free trade in light of the government’s goal of achieving rice self-sufficiency.

Since the government imposes a quota on rice imports, domestic prices are vulnerable to shocks resulting from a meager supply.

The QR puts the burden of rice supply and demand on the government, whereas the market forces are being limited by the quota system.

Pundits say importation should be done by the private sector to allow market forces to determine prices.

The extended QR slaps 35-percent duty on imported rice under a minimum access volume (MAV) of 805,200 metric tons. Importation outside of the MAV limit are levied a higher tariff of 50 percent.

The Philippines’ most favored nation rate – the additional tariff imposed when imported outside of the Association of Southeast Nations – on the commodity remains at about 40 percent.

In 1995, the WTO allowed the Philippines to impose a 10-year quota system for rice importation. The QR was extended in 2004, and then lapsed in 2012, before again renewed in 2014. /atm

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/913259/ph-to-compensate-for-extension-of-qr-on-rice-says-neda-chief#ixzz4mhbZMtfs

Rice export target set at 5.7 million tonnes

Update: July, 12/2017 - 16:17

Rice export is expected to reach 5.7 million tonnes this year. - Photo doisongphapluat.com

HÀ NỘI – The Việt Nam Food Association (VFA) has set the target for rice export at 5.7 million tonnes this year, up 800,000 tonnes from 2016, amid rising global demand.Huỳnh Thế Năng, president of VFA, said that since May, the demand for rice in the global market had seen a significant rise, and sellers now had the upper hand.The current stockpiles of major rice exporting countries were not high, while rice import demands from countries such as the Philippines, Bangladesh and Indonesia were rising, Năng said, adding that the average export price had seen a rise of US$6-7 per tonne compared to the same period last year.
Năng said the Philippines planned to purchase 250,000 tonnes of rice in July and there was a high possibility that Việt Nam would be chosen. The Philippines was also considering importing another 544,000 tones by the beginning of September.
Recently, Bangladesh and Việt Nam also signed a memorandum of understanding on rice trade, in which Việt Nam can sell up to one million tonnes of rice to Bangladesh every year.
A survey by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) revealed that local rice prices were increasing this year, by VNĐ300-600 per kg.Data from the MARD shows that in the first six months of 2017, rice export reached 2.8 million tonnes worth $1.2 billion, up 6.3 per cent in quantity and 4.9 per cent in value over the same period last year. The increase is considered impressive, given that it declined by 26.5 per cent in volume and 22.4 per cent in value in 2016. – VNS

http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/379992/rice-export-target-set-at-57-million-tonnes.html#ky2qf78bqgy1Kcpx.97

Rebuilding a damaged agricultural sector

By Rene E. Ofreneo

JULY 12, 2017

“We’re a blessed Nation because we can grow our own food and, therefore, we’re secure. A Nation that can feed its people is a nation more secure.”— President George W. Bush, on the occasion of the signing of the US Farms Bill, May 13, 2002. The US Farm Policy, which provides massive subsidy to American agriculture, is renewed every five years.

During the election campaign in 2015-2016, then Presidential Candidate Rodrigo Duterte never got tired telling the voters that the Philippines became a major agriculture-importing country because of “failed agricultural programs”, as reflected in the nation’s heavy reliance on rice imports and smuggled agricultural products such as garlic and onion. Quoting an Israeli expert, he said that our soil is so rich the country is even in a position to feed the world.

And yet, as we all know, Philippine agriculture is a devastated sector. It is unable to feed the nation. Although it covers over one-third of the country’s landmass of 30 million hectares, agriculture output accounts for less than 10 percent of the GDP. Still, it employs around one-third of the labor force. The resulting low income per capita in the sector explains why poverty wears a predominantly rural face. In turn, the eroded capacity of the sector to create decent jobs explains the unabated exodus of rural migrants to the urban areas as well as the rise of rural poor colonies throughout the archipelago.

Hence, the big challenge to the Duterte Administration, now on its second year, is two-fold: how to stop the continuous decline of agriculture as a productive sector, and how to transform it into a motor of growth and job creation.

There are promising developments. Department of Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol has been insistent on the importance of the rice sufficiency program and the extension of more assistance to the farmers – for example, free irrigation and palay price support. To strengthen farmer coping adjustment to market demand and climate change challenges, Malacanang also launched a “color-guided” map on soil and crop suitability.

However, the Administration’s agricultural policy team is still not united on how to push the sufficiency-transformation program. There are advocates of liberalized rice importation even during palay harvest season. There is still no policy unity on what should be the role of the government’s National Food Authority in the rice and other agricultural markets.

There are also unresolved land problems. The full implementation of the 30-year-old Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program is an unfinished business. There are even debates within the Cabinet on whether to relax or not the policy banning conversions of agricultural lands. Proposals for a comprehensive national land use plan remain proposals awaiting Congressional approval and public scrutiny. In the meantime, big realty estate companies and resort and subdivision developers are having a field day accumulating agricultural land in various regions to build new cement jungles, develop resorts and playgrounds for the rich, or keep them idle temporarily for “land banking” purposes.

To strengthen agriculture, the new Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022 has identified the following policy doables: Revitalization (the DBM allocating P120 billion in five years), diversification (encouraging farmers to plant high-value products and exportables), and modernization (through mechanization, credit assistance and so on) of the sector. In addition, the PDP talks of the need for product standardization and strengthening of agricultural supporting institutions.

However, the PDP is silent on the “failed agricultural policies” mentioned by then Presidentiable Duterte. What are these failed policies? How should these be corrected? Answers to these questions are necessary if the government has to forge a national consensus on how agriculture can regain dynamism and how the country can regain its ability to feed the nation. The DA-NFA conflict over rice importation illustrates the abject lack of policy coherence within the executive branch of the government.

For the Integrated Rural Development Foundation, which published a book entitled Rebuilding a Damaged Agricultural Sector (2016), one way of tackling the policy failure issue is to go historical. There is a need to examine what has happened to the sector during the three decades of CARP (1988-present) and the longer period of structural adjustment program or SAP (late 1970s to the present).

The SAP program is built around the neo-liberal economic idea that agriculture grows best when it is “deregulated” (meaning no government intervention in the market such as price support) and “liberalized” (meaning no restrictions and low tariffs on agricultural imports). The unilateral SAP program of the 1980s-1990s pushed by the IMF-World Bank was reinforced by the Philippine trade liberalization commitments to the World Trade Organization, the Asean trade in goods agreement and to a number of bilateral free trade agreements.

And yet, the CARP and SAP decades have turned out to be lost decades for Philippine agriculture. Yes, there are pockets of growth such as banana. But the sector as a whole has been stagnating and shrinking. The country has become a net agricultural importing country since 1995, ironically the first year of Philippine membership in WTO. In certain years, the Philippines was also officially reported as the world’s largest rice importer. Worse, majority of those living in the countryside, including the beneficiaries of CARP, have either remained poor or poorer because of limited farm incomes and jobs.

The point is that an honest-to-goodness review and inquiry on the “failed agricultural policies”, as voiced out by then Presidentiable Duterte, remains unaddressed. A bold reform program should come out of the review process as a guide in the rebuilding of the damaged sector. Reading IRDF’s book is a good starting point.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/rebuilding-a-damaged-agricultural-sector/

Purple rice developed by Chinese scientists

07/12/17 6:15 AM By Agri-Pulse staff

KEYWORDS ANTHOCYANINS BIOSYNTHESIS CHINA ENDOSPERM GENETIC PURPLE RICE

CHINA, July 12, 2017 - Purple rice developed by Chinese scientists. A new genetic engineering technique developed by Chinese scientists has been used to develop purple rice packed with antioxidant-boosting pigments called anthocyanins.

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https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Za9Hgnxg4gcJ:https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/9554-purple-rice-developed-by-chinese-scientists%3Fv%3Dpreview+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk

Qamrul refuses to give stats of food reserve

Food Minister Qamrul Islam on Thursday, July 13, 2017, tells journalists at his Secretariat office in Dhaka that there is no scarcity of food in the country. Photo: Tuhin Shubhra Adhikary

Star Online Report

Food Minister Qamrul Islam has rubbished reports of “low food stock”, at a time when Bangladesh is importing rice following a price flare and market instability.

In face of such, the minister who once made the headlines for importing substandard wheat, has refused to share specific information of the current food reserve.

“We have enough food reserve,” he said in response to reporters’ repeated queries. However, when asked what the existing food reserve was, he replied: “I won’t say further”.

Qamrul’s press briefing comes in the backdrop of The Daily Star newspaper running a lead titled ‘Rice crisis catches Qamrul napping’ where it says food stock has plummeted to a six-year low.

Qamrul has also brushed away the “six-year low” statistics as false.

The total food stock in the country will be 12 lakh metric tonnes by September this year, said Qamrul, pointing to the future when the reporters wanted to know about the current situation.

He said, by August, the total food grain reserve of Bangladesh will reach 8-10 lakh metric tonnes piled from internal and external sources.

In the process, a total of 4.5 lakh metric tonnes of rice will be imported from other countries including India, Myanmar and Thailand by August, he added.

He blamed the recent price flare of rice, the prime staple, on some dishonest businessmen and millers, who “took advantage of the recent flood situation in the haor areas.”

Qamrul said the government is preparing a blacklist of the rice millers who did not sell to the government during the procurement period. “The government will not buy from them in next three years.”

http://www.thedailystar.net/business/rice-crisis-import-price-hike-report-low-food-stock-false-bangladesh-food-minister-qamrul-islam-1432564

Rice crisis catches Qamrul napping

Reaz Ahmad

This year's unusual hike in rice prices caught Food Minister Qamrul Islam napping. Both Qamrul and the ministry he leads seemed ill prepared all along, but the minister has his own logic for that.

“I'm no astrologer,” he told The Daily Star, "How could I possibly anticipate that there would be such a devastating flood?"

He was, of course, referring to the flashfloods that washed away 10 lakh tonnes of Boro rice, the only rice Haor farmers grow in a year.

True, it was anyone's guess that flashfloods would strike the vast backswamp in the northeast as early as March.

But the writing was on the wall. If only Qamrul and his men could read and act accordingly!

Rice reserve in public granaries was on the slides and the staple's prices were shooting up since January. Policy think-tanks and the media had been persistent in sounding cautions against the free falling of food stock.

On top of the yearly food-aid programmes, the government initiated a new Tk 10-a-kg rice programme for 50 lakh ultra poor in late 2016. Qamrul's ministry distributed over seven lakh tonnes of rice from the government silos under this new programme, dubbing it as the prime minister's “Branding Programme” but never making any effort to replenish the fast depleting stock.

It didn't occur to the food ministry that it has to either locally procure or import rice to refill the granaries. It didn't also pursue policy measures, such as duty cuts on import, which would encourage private procurement from global market. The duty on rice import was 28 percent at the time, discouraging private importers from procuring the staple from international market.

Ultimately, the market forces came into play in a nasty way, with private traders and rice millers finding the moment ripe to go for a windfall through price hike.

Qamrul eventually moved to import rice, but it was too late. Already, prices of rice, especially the coarse ones consumed by the poor, hit a 47 percent increase on year-on-year basis.

It remains a riddle why the food ministry allowed the year-end food stock to dip below five lakh tonnes (in June FY2017) whereas the rice stock was nine lakh tonnes in FY2016, 13 lakh tonnes in FY2015 and over 10 lakh tonnes in the two preceding years.

With the government having so poor a stock and the early flashfloods destroying much of the Haor's Boro output, the predominantly private sector-led grain market seized the opportunity, much to the agony of low-income consumers.

"We had three lakh tonnes of rice in hand in April and I thought we'll be able to replenish the stock by a good Boro purchase during May-June. But that didn't happen. That's why we're now importing rice to stabilise the market," Qamrul told this paper.

But he never explained what stopped his ministry and the food department from early import when it was clear that food stock had already dipped to a six-year low.

Private sector import almost came to a grinding halt due to government foot-dragging on relaxing the heavy import duty slapped in FY2014-15. Only on June 20, the duty was cut down to 10 percent, facilitating late entry of some relatively cheap rice from India.

Because of the delay in making the import decision, the government now has to pay more as rice prices on international market have gone up in the past two months.

In May, the food department could get 1 lakh tonnes of rice at Tk 346.24 crore. But in June, the government imported 2.5 lakh tonnes of rice for Tk 908.85 crore from Vietnam.

The government is now considering importing rice from Thailand, where export prices of white rice rose by 10 percent, the highest since August 2014, according to the Thailand Trade Commission.

This means, the government will have to commit more money when it strikes a deal, expected next week, to import Thai rice.

Back in April, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) had cautioned the government: "Rising food inflation since January 2017 needs to be closely monitored in view of its adverse effect on the poorer households. Rising rice price in recent months in the backdrop of declining public stock appears to be the major cause that is pushing food inflation upward. At present, coarse rice price is about 24 percent higher than a year ago. Also, average rice price in Bangladesh is about 27.9 percent higher than that in India."

The country's leading independent think-tank also observed that "Curiously, distribution of rice and wheat saw a strong growth (12.3 per cent) in the backdrop of the decline in import, procurement and stock figures."

The thought of low food stock occurred to the food ministry only in June when, for the first time, Qamrul acknowledged before parliament that the government's rice stock was indeed low. He then said the process to import six lakh tonnes of rice was underway.

Data point to a negative correlation between stock and price. Coarse rice was selling below Tk 31 a kg when stock was 10 lakh tonnes. But it shot up to Tk 35 as the stock slipped below 10 lakh tonnes, to Tk 39 when it slid below eight lakh tonnes and to Tk 43 as the stock dipped below six lakh tonnes.

"Why have they [food ministry and food directorate] failed to keep the minimum security stock of rice in the granaries?” said Ilahi Dad Khan, former director of the food directorate who had a crucial crisis management role during the 2007-08 global economic meltdown and the 2011 rice shortage.

“They should have noticed well in advance that how fast the food godowns were drying up due to continuous operations of open market sale (OMS) since January and exhausting of stock through distributions under the Tk 10/per kg rice distribution programme.”During his time in the food directorate, there was always an effort to keep one million tonnes of food (rice and wheat) stock reserve in the godowns, he said.

Dr AMM Shawkat Ali, former caretaker government adviser who was agriculture secretary in late 1990s, said the government should have allowed private traders to import rice by reducing the high duty much earlier.“What took the government so long to go for the duty cut?” he wondered.

Director General of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Dr KAS Murshid noted the food ministry should have moved fast to replenish stock when they were releasing rice in big volume for distribution among the ultra poor at Tk 10/kg.But this is not the first time that Qamrul and his ministry acted late.

About two years ago, when wheat stock dried up in government silos, the food department hurriedly imported over two lakh tonnes of substandard wheat from a new market -- Brazil. The grain quality and insect infestation sparked a huge outcry across the country. Even ruling Awami League men put up barricades at places, blocking entry of the consignments into public granaries. Later, the minister had to declare in parliament that they would not import wheat from Brazil any more and acknowledged that "the wheat looks bad."

The government never investigated if there was any direct link between the import from Brazil and the blast attack, but among the scientific fraternity there is a strong suspicion that there is.

http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/rice-crisis-price-hike-due-to-bangladesh-flood-catches-qamrul-napping-1432372

Proposal to impose season-based rice tariffs welcomed by experts

By Cai Ordinario

JULY 12, 2017

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is open to the proposal to impose season-based tariffs on rice to discourage more rice imports during harvest season.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said economic managers will
discuss this proposal during their next meeting.

Pernia made the pronouncement after Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, a former agriculture secretary, said he wants seasonal rice tariffs to replace the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice.

Dominquez’s plan is to impose 35 percent during the lean months and 50 percent during harvest season to protect the local farmers from import surge while shielding consumers from price spikes.

“Well, we [economic managers] will discuss the possibility of imposing seasonal tariffs on rice imports and arrive at a common decision,” he told reporters in an interview.

The Philippines, which secured the approval of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to extend its waiver on the special treatment for rice, needs to amend Republic Act 8178 to scrap the QR and convert it into tariffs.

University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) economist Rolando Dy told the BusinessMirror that imposing a 50-percent tariff during rice harvest is “acceptable” and is an effective deterrent to smuggling.

Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) senior research fellow Roehlano Briones, who initially proposed a 35-per-cent levy on rice, said he would prefer a uniform tariff of 35 percent.

“I favor imposing a 35-percent tariff year-round. However, imposing 50 percent is also okay if we can prove that it is warranted,” Briones told the BusinessMirror.

Former Tariff Commission chief George Manzano said imposing seasonal tariffs works best for products that have a short shelf life. But for products that have a long shelf life, such as rice, Manzano said this would not be “very effective”.

He also said any tariff, seasonal or not, must be imposed within the bounds of WTO rules and agreements. Manzano added the government should see to it that these seasonal tariffs would not cause domestic rice prices to go up.

“One has to look at the trade-offs. If the seasonal tariff is very high, then the domestic price of rice may be very high, too,” Manzano told the BusinessMirror. “The government will have to weigh the welfare of the consumers against the welfare of our rice farmers.”

Last week Dominguez said economic managers are still deciding on the tariff rate to be slapped on rice imports, following the expiry of the country’s rice-import cap. However, what is certain is that it will be between 35 percent and 50 percent, Dominguez said. “I think what’s being discussed is something like 35 percent or 50 percent. [It’s] around that range.”

The finance chief added that economic managers are “thinking about a number of things” to ensure they cover all possible options on resolving the matter. Dominguez said they are open to the idea of a season-based tariff rate for rice imports.

Dominguez said this might be the best way to balance the interest of local farmers and consumers. “[As much as] we have to protect the local farmers from [the] dumping of foods, we also have to protect the consumers and hope the prices [of rice] will be moderate,” the finance chief said.

Fact is, Dominguez added, prices of local rice are higher than those of imported rice, especially if the staple is produced by a fellow Asean nation. In a 2015 study, commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, it was found out that Thailand and Vietnam have the lowest production cost for every kilo of rice.

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http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/proposal-to-impose-season-based-rice-tariffs-welcomed-by-experts/

NFA wants more bidders for for 250,000 MT rice imports

By Louise Maureen Simeon (philstar.com) | Updated July 13, 2017 - 3:20pm

According to NFA, previous G2P schemes several years ago had an average of 10 to 15 bidders. Philstar.com/file photo

During the pre-bidding conference Thursday, only 11 bidders bought bid documents for the the 250,000 MT (25 percent brokens, long grain white rice, well-milled) to be divided in eight lots.Although the NFA did not set a target number of bidders to participate, the agency wants to have as many as possible.

"We have eight lots and 11 bidders. We are not saying that it is not enough but we would want to have more and to open up to many bidders as possible," NFA Special Assistant to the Administrator Rachel Miguel said.

"The very purpose of the NFA Council is for more private participation and that the volume will not be from a single supplier only," NFA deputy administrator Tomas Escarez added.

According to NFA, previous G2P schemes several years ago had an average of 10 to 15 bidders. Of the 11 bidders, five are from Thailand: Ponglarp Co. Ltd., Thai Hua Co. Ltd., Capital Cereals Co. Ltd., Asia Golden Rice Co. Ltd. and Thai Granlux International Inc.

Vietnam has four: Vietnam Northern Food Corp., Vietnam Southern Food Corp. II, Gentraco, and Gia International Corp.The remaining bidders are Olam International Ltd. from Singapore and Louis Dreyfus Co. from the Netherlands.

The NFA will still accept bidders until the opening of bid documents on July 25.Of the total import volume, 100,000 MT will be discharged in the port of Manila, 30,000 MT in Batangas, 25,000 MT each in Tabaco, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, 20,000 MT in Poro Pt. in La Union, 15,000 MT in Davao and 10,000 MT in General Santos City.

The imported volume is expected to arrive starting August until September, the period of the lean season, and the agency has allotted P5.6 billion for the procurement.

Current NFA inventory can only last for five days compared to its mandated buffer stock of having reserves good for at least 15 days at any given time.

Starting this month, which marks the onset of the lean season for rice, the NFA must have at least a 30-day buffer stock to meet the requirements of victims of calamities and emergencies.

"We continue to monitor the supply and we are ready with any eventuality. Nothing to worry, because in the next three weeks, the importation will arrive and we will also be opening the MAV (minimum access volume)," Escarez said.Based on computations, the 250,000 MT can only cover for seven days. Following the 32,000-MT daily consumption of the country, at least 544,000 MT is needed to maintain the agency’s buffer stocking mandate.

NFA said rice must be shipped in break bulk where packing shall be in 50 kilograms net each in woven polypropylene bags suitable for rice export with NFA markings, designs and specifications.

Winning bidders shall deliver the goods free of obligations and expenses of NFA up to NFA’s designated warehouses.

http://www.philstar.com/agriculture/2017/07/13/1719215/nfa-wants-more-bidders-250000-mt-rice-imports

PH to compensate for extension of QR on rice imports, says Neda chief

By: Ben O. de Vera - Reporter / @bendeveraINQ

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:16 AM July 13, 2017

Economic managers will ask President Duterte to certify as urgent a bill that will slap tariff on all rice imports to enable the country to finally do away with the quota system and avoid sanctions from the World Trade Organization (WTO).

While the President signed in April Executive Order No. 23, which was aimed at eventually lifting the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice, the EO provided for a three-year extension of the QR while in transition toward the imposition of tariff, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia told reporters on Monday.

To ultimately remove the QR, the over one-decade-old Republic Act No. 8178 or the Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996, which had put the rice import quota in place, must be amended.

Pernia, who also heads state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), said Senator Ralph Recto had already filed in the Senate a measure to remove the QRs.

“In the meantime, as the deliberations in Congress will take some time, what we are trying to do is to not infuriate the members of the WTO,” Pernia said.

Specifically, Pernia said “we are planning to extend the concessions on lower tariffs to certain products or minimum access volume of 5,200 metric tons that will be granted to interested WTO parties up to June 2020 or up to the time Congress approves the official lifting of QR and replacing them with tariffication, whichever comes first.”

The concessions will be on agricultural products, Pernia said.

He said he was hopeful “the approval of the tariffication proposal will come sooner so that we don’t have to be extending concessions.”

Pernia said Neda was backing the proposal of state-run think tank Philippine Institute of Development Studies to set the import duty on rice at 35 percent.

In 2014, the WTO allowed the Philippines to extend its QR on rice until June 30, 2017, to give local farmers more time to prepare for free trade in light of the government’s goal of achieving rice self-sufficiency.

Since the government imposes a quota on rice imports, domestic prices are vulnerable to shocks resulting from meager supply.

The QR puts the burden of rice supply and demand to the government, and market forces are being limited by the quota system.

Sources say importation should be done by the private sector in order to allow market forces to determine prices.

The extended QR slaps a 35 percent duty on imported rice under the minimum access volume (MAV) of 805,200 metric tons. Importation outside of the MAV limit are levied a higher tariff of 50 percent.

The Philippines’ most favored nation rate—the additional tariff imposed on imports from outside of the Asean—on the commodity remains at about 40 percent.

In 1995, the WTO allowed the Philippines to impose a 10-year quota system for rice importation. The QR was extended in 2004 and, again, in 2014

http://business.inquirer.net/232995/ph-compensate-extension-qr-rice-imports-says-neda-chief#ixzz4mhdVKN35

Changing of the Guard at USA Rice Annual Meeting

By Deborah Willenborg

DALLAS, TX -- All four USA Rice member organizations announced their newly-elected officers during annual business meetings here this week. Joe Mencer, a rice farmer from Lake Village, AR, is the incoming chairman for the USA Rice Farmers, the national association representing U.S. rice farmers. Nicole Van Vleck, from Yuba City, CA, was elected vice chairman. On behalf of the association's members, Mencer thanked Missouri rice farmer Blake Gerard, who has chaired the organization since 2015, for his dedicated service and leadership.


*Doherty (left) and Cochran*

Rice farmer Marvin Cochran from Avon, MS, was elected chairman of the USA Rice Council, along with four farmers who will serve as vice chairs for the 2015-2017 term: Byron Holmes, Lake Village, AR; Kirk Satterfield, Benoit, MS; Josh Sheppard, Biggs, CA; and Eric Unkel, Kinder, LA. Keith Gray, with Riviana Foods, was elected secretary, and Carl Brothers, with Riceland Foods, was elected treasurer. Chairman-elect Cochran expressed the Council's appreciation to Sean Doherty, a California rice farmer, for his outstanding service as chairman the past two years.

The USA Rice Merchants' Association new slate of officers includes Chairman Dick Ottis, Vice Chairman Ryan Carwell, and Secretary/Treasurer Park Eldridge. The Merchants' also announced members of their newly-elected Board of Directors: David Bertrand, Elton, LA; Bill Dunklin, McGehee, AR; Brian King, Wynne, AR; and Marley Oldham, Mer Rouge, LA.

At their annual conference last month, the USA Rice Millers' Association (RMA) announced the election of Alex Balafoutis, Vice President of Sales for the Rice Business Unit at PGP International in Woodland, California, and Keith Gray, Vice President of Supply Chain at Riviana Foods, as chairman and vice chairman, respectively. Chairman-elect Balafoutis presented outgoing RMA Chairman Robbie Trahan with a plaque to commemorate his tenure.

"The hard work of the outgoing chairmen in their respective organizations has benefited rice farmers in all states and our entire industry," said USA Rice Chairman Brian King, an Arkansas rice merchant. "I want to add my appreciation for their exceptional leadership and commitment and I look forward to working with their successors who will begin two-year terms on August 1, 2017.

USA Rice Federation News

WASDE Report Released

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. 2017/18 all rice supplies are lowered 9.5 million cwt to 261.6 million on a production decrease, which is partially offset by slightly higher imports. Long grain production is lowered 5.6 million cwt and combined medium/short grain production is lowered 4.1 million cwt. The production decrease stems from a 123,000 acre reduction in harvested area, reflecting the floods that occurred in Northeast Arkansas and the bootheel of Missouri as well as excessive moisture in California at planting time. Long grain beginning stocks are raised 3.8 million cwt on a 2-million-cwt decrease in both 2016/17 exports and domestic and residual use, which is partially offset by a 200,000 cwt decrease in 2016/17 imports. These revisions are offset by changes to medium and short grain leaving all rice 2016/17 ending stocks and total use unchanged. Total use for 2017/18 is reduced 8 million cwt with reductions to both domestic and residual use and exports leaving 2017/18 ending stocks down 1.5 million. By class, long grain ending stocks are raised 1.2 million cwt and medium and short grain ending stocks are lowered 2.7 million. The 2017/18 all rice season-average farm price is raised $0.80 per cwt at the midpoint to a range of $11.80 to $12.80.

Global rice supplies for 2017/18 are raised 1.9 million tons primarily on increased production for India and Thailand. India production is raised 2 million tons to 108 million, and Thailand production is raised 900,000 tons to 20.4 million, both changes are on improved rainfall thus far in the growing season. The largest production decrease was a 300,000 ton reduction for the United States. Foreign exports are raised 600,000 tons led by increases for India and China. Global use is reduced fractionally and world ending stocks are raised 2 million tons to 122.5 million.

Read the full report here.

Rice crisis catches Qamrul napping

Reaz Ahmad

This year's unusual hike in rice prices caught Food Minister Qamrul Islam napping.

Both Qamrul and the ministry he leads seemed ill prepared all along, but the minister has his own logic for that.