RICE
INDUSTRY ENCOURAGED BY TRADE OUTLOOK
February 27, 2020 By Meghan Grebner Filed
Under: Crops, Human Interest, News
The
chair of USA Rice says the organization is encouraged by the Administration’s
game plan on trade.
California
rice producer Charley Mathews says Chief Ag Negotiator Gregg Doud provided an
update on the Phase One trade agreement with China during the industry’s recent
Government Affairs Conference. “Rice is a relatively small commodity,” he
says. “But we were recognized through that whole process. And at
the end of the day, we have a deal that benefits large segments of agriculture
– including rice.”
He
says Doud also discussed future trade negotiations with the United Kingdom, the
EU, Kenya, and Japan.
Mathews
tells Brownfield they’re hoping for some additional progress on the next round
of trade talks with Japan. “We have an existing WTO agreement with Japan,”
he says. “It’s great for business. What we’re really after is
better access in the marketplace. We tend to have difficulty getting our
product to the consumer in Japan. The issue this go-round is not about
tonnage. It’s about getting meaningful access.”
More
than 100 rice industry representatives have been in Washington, DC meeting with
members of Congress and agency offices during the 2020 Government Affairs
Conference.
AUDIO:
Charley Mathews, Jr – chair USA Rice
N. Korean rice sellers raking it in thanks to
skyrocketing prices
Small-scale rice sellers are
resorting to purchasing rice from local farms to keep up with the demand
By
-
2020.02.26 4:00pm
The rise of North Korean rice
prices have led to massive profits for rice wholesalers who acquired rice from
China before the closure of the Sino-North Korean border in late January, Daily
NK has learned.
The dearth of Chinese rice due to
the border shutdown led rice prices to skyrocket up to between KPW 6,000 to KPW
6,500 initially. Now, however, prices have now settled back down to between KPW
5,500 and KPW 6,000 in parts of the country.
North Korean commodity prices
stayed relatively stable despite international sanctions and such a steep rise
in prices over such a short period is the first observed in 10 years.
“The rise in rice prices due to
the coronavirus means that merchants have had to find any way possible to
acquire more rice,” a Ryanggang Province-based source told Daily NK today.
“Small-scale rice sellers
typically sell about 50 kilograms of rice per day in markets in Pyongsong. Now
that they have no more Chinese rice to sell, they are purchasing rice from
local farms to sell in the markets,” the source said.
Large rice wholesalers,
meanwhile, are reportedly making large profits from the increases in price all
over the country.
“There are five large-scale rice
wholesalers in Hyesan and they have about 10-18 tons of rice imported from
China,” the source said. “They had acquired the rice to sell for Lunar New
Years, Jeongwol Daeborum [celebrating the first full moon after Lunar’s], and
Kim Jong Il’s birthday on February 16 and are now selling it in the markets.”
The wholesalers are making
“unimaginable” sums of money, the source added.
“The donju [North Korea’s wealthy
entrepreneurial class] are selling rice they obtained [before the shutdown of
the border] at expensive prices and are making more money off their rice than
usual,” one source said.
The wholesalers in Hyesan have
reportedly released only some of their stocks of rice into the markets as part
of efforts to keep prices high. Nonetheless, Daily NK sources reported that
rice prices have fallen slightly as the supply of rice continues to increase in
the markets.
Rice sellers in markets in Hyesan
reportedly have typically made profits of KPW 300 to 400 off the sale of one
kilogram of rice, which means they have been able to make profits of up to KPW
15,000 to KPW 20,000 when they sell 50 kilograms on a given day.
With the price of rice
skyrocketing by at least KPW 1,000, rice sellers in the city are now making
twice as much, sources said.
The price of one kilogram of rice
in Hyesan Market cost KPW 5,700 today, which is a decrease of about KPW 700 from
Feb. 19 and Feb. 20.
Please direct any comments or
questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Adani Wilmar
aims to shake off edible oil tag with new Fortune brand logo
Despite
operating now in 5 categories - edible oil, pulses, rice, wheat flour and sugar
- over 90% consumers still associate Fortune brand with the cooking medium
Vinay Umarji | Ahmedabad Last
Updated at February 27, 2020 23:00 IST
Representative Image
In another step to establish itself
as a foods brand rather than just an edible
oil player, Adani
Wilmar Ltd (AWL) has acquired a new logo for its 'Fortune'
brand.
Despite operating now in five categories including edible oil,
pulses, rice, wheat flour (atta) and sugar, over 90 per cent of consumers still
associate the Fortune brand with edible oil, said Angshu Mallick, deputy chief
operating officer of Adani
Wilmar citing a survey.
"In less than two decades, Fortune brand has evolved from
being the number one cooking oil brand to be among the fastest growing foods
brands in India. The new visual identity is to convey this transformation to
our customers. The new logo reflects modern aesthetics while keeping intact the
Fortune brand’s core philosophy," Mallick said. The new logo, therefore,
sports a flower blossom in the place of the alphabet 'O' in Fortune.
According to Mallick, its purpose is to inspire consumers to be
adventurous with Fortune foods, to go on a journey of exploration, to discover
a world of dazzling flavour and be empowered by fresh challenges.
"The transformation of Fortune’s visual identity is also
aimed at defending its position in strong markets, strengthening its position
in other markets, and to continue to be relevant to younger households, the
millennial generation, through the values they believe in," he added.
Launched in 2000 as brand 'Fortune' with three offerings including
Fortune Soyabean Oil, Fortune Sunflower Oil, and Fortune Cottonseed Oil, it
became one of the largest selling cooking oil brands in India in just 18
months. Fortune entered the foods segment in the year 2013, with the launch of
besan, followed by the launch of Soya Chunks in 2014, Basmati rice in 2015, and
Wheat Flour in 2017. The ready-to-cook Khichdi was launched in 2019.
Currently, Fortune offers a range of oils spanning across soya,
sunflower, mustard, groundnut, cottonseed, rice bran, and Fortune Vivo Pro
Sugar Conscious Oil. Brand Fortune has also been extended to food categories
such as wheat flour, Basmati rice, pulses, soya chunks, besan, and the recently
launched ready-to-cook Khichdi.
On the back of the new logo, the company expects to grow its foods
business from contributing just 10 per cent to the revenue currently to around
30 per cent in next 3-5 years.
The company has also roped in creative agency Ogilvy even as the
new packaging design as well as the expanded foods offerings, shall be
communicated through a 360 degree campaign featuring Bollywood actor Akshay
Kumar and spanning TV, press, outdoor, mobile, digital, social and in-store.
https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/adani-wilmar-aims-to-shake-off-edible-oil-tag-with-new-fortune-brand-logo-120022701175_1.html
Adani Wilmar to strengthen food play with
offerings in packaged staples
Adani Wilmar Ltd is looking to
strengthen its food play with the launch of a slew of value-added offerings
across various categories in the branded packaged staples segment starting with
sulphurless sugar.
The edible oils major on
Wednesday also launched a new logo for its brand Fortune and has revamped the
packaging of its entire product portfolio, in a bid to strengthen its appeal
among millennial consumers.
The company entered the packaged
staples segment with the launch of besan in 2013 and has now expanded the
brand’s presence to wheat flour, pulses, basmati and non-basmati rice, besides
ready-to-eat khichdi.
“India is a huge consumption
story and the penetration of branded packaged staples is very low. We have a
leadership position in the edible oils space. We want to now focus on becoming
a strong national player in the wheat flour, pulses, besan and rice
categories,” said Angshu Mallick, Deputy CEO, Adani Wilmar Ltd.
Talking about the strategy to
foray into packaged sugar segment, he said, “Our foray in the packaged
sulphurless sugar category in in line with our strategy to offer value-added
offerings to consumers. We will initially launch this product in the Eastern
region and gradually expand it to pan-India level.”
Distribution
strategy
Over the next one year, the
company will look at launching 5-6 value-added offerings such as multi-grain
atta, fortified rice, khaman dhokla besan among others in the packaged staples
segment, Mallick said. This expansion is also being backed by a strong rural
distribution push besides expanding the presence of its product portfolio to
smaller towns and cities.
“In the key eight States, we are
ramping up distribution in villages with population of up to 10,000 people. We
are also looking at expanding the distribution for our entire portfolio of
wheat flour, pulses, non-basmati rice and besan in rural and semi-urban
regions,” Mallick added.
Meanwhile, talking about the
impact of the ongoing slowdown, Mallick said that factors such as liquidity
crunch in general trade and softer consumer sentiment has adversely impacted
the FMCG industry. “We are seeing consumers opting for smaller packs and
cutting down on frequency of purchases. Growth in January and February has also
been impacted due to uncertainty around coronavirus,” he added.
Joining forces to fighting rice diseases in India
Biology: HHU signs Memorandum of Understanding
CREDIT: HHU / JOCHEN MUELLER
A large proportion of India's farmers live
from growing rice, and 70% of them have farms that average smaller than 0.4
hectares - that's roughly half the size of a football field. Even a single
infection can directly endanger their livelihood. Also, in many parts of Asia
diseases like bacterial blight in rice are countered by spraying antibiotics
and extremely dangerous pesticides that are not approved here in Europe. This
means that we urgently need efficient solutions to safeguard the livelihood and
the health of the farmers in India.
Prof. Dr. Wolf B. Frommer's working group at HHU has been
researching for years on strategies and measures to combat such plant diseases.
Together with researchers from the Philippines, Colombia, France and the US,
they have found ways to overcome at least one of the diseases, bacterial blight
in rice, efficiently and without the use of pesticides. Now these researchers
want to make their tools accessible to researchers in Asia and Africa in
particular. They also want to help countries dependent on rice-growing by
making their resistant rice varieties available to smallholder farmers.
The Memorandum of Understanding that has now been signed opens
up new avenues for applying these findings in India too, a country where huge
swathes of land are affected by the disease. Researchers in India are world
leaders in resistance research and in developing resistant rice varieties. The
methods and materials developed in India complement the findings from HHU's
research to date. The new partner, ICAR, pools India's research and development
competency in relation to rice. It is an independent organisation within the
Indian Ministry for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, headquartered in New
Delhi. The organisation encompasses 101 research institutes and 71 agricultural
universities.
HHU and ICAR have agreed to carry out joint research and
development projects, where HHU will learn from the vast experience of ICAR. In
return, HHU will make its knowledge and technology available to ICAR.
The collaboration includes an exchange programme for students
and scientists that is already in operation. Research findings will be
published jointly, and agreement has also been reached on how the research
findings will be marketed to benefit smallholder farmers in India. Prof.
Frommer had this to say: "For me and my colleagues, this collaboration is
a significant step that will hopefully allow us to attempt - together with the
scientists and growers at ICAR - to use fundamental discoveries to help
smallholder farmers in India."
HHU President Prof. Dr. Anja Steinbeck, who signed the
Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of HHU on 26 February 2020, said:
"This collaboration is a significant milestone for our university. It
opens the door to a close working relationship. It will see us merge
competencies in order to tackle essential challenges. I am happy to know that
HHU researchers can make an important contribution to providing practical help
to India's population."
