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USA
Rice Foodservice Cookbooks Emphasize Holiday Menu
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO --
Just in time for the holiday season here, USA Rice unveiled two new cookbooks
full of exciting rice recipes: a student chefs' magazine, "Futuros
Chefs Cocinando con Arroz" (Future Chefs Cooking with Rice, Volume 2),
and "Lo Mejor del Arroz por Los Mejores Chefs de México" (The Best
of Rice by The Best Chefs in Mexico), featuring gourmet holiday dishes created
by some of the most renowned professional chefs in Mexico.
Sixty guests attended the cookbook launch party on December 18, including several chefs included in the holiday magazine, chef instructors from various institutions where USA Rice conducts activities, publishers of the magazine, student chefs, and media. The guests participated in a roundtable discussion about their experiences cooking with U.S.-grown rice, the importance of rice in foodservice, and the impact of USA Rice activities on their industry. The professional chefs said USA Rice events such as the chefs' competitions, foodservice seminars and contests, trade shows, gourmet TV Shows, social media content, and particularly the arrozgourmet.com.mx website have significantly increased their use of U.S.-grown rice in their restaurants, hotels, and businesses. They are incorporating U.S. rice more frequently in their menus because of its versatility, ease of preparation, and superior quality. Chef instructors echoed the sentiment that USA Rice activities at their schools have positively impacted their students, and are effective in influencing the prospective chefs to use U.S. rice in their future jobs. "We target culinary students because they will be in key decision-making roles in the future," said Sarah Moran, USA Rice vice president international promotion. "Students said USA Rice tutorial activities awaken their creativity and help them think about preparing rice in more varied ways." The roundtable discussion also included feedback on how to continue promoting U.S. rice and reaching a larger audience in 2018. "USA Rice cookbooks sell out fast because consumers want to learn how to make gourmet main dishes and desserts for Christmas and New Year's that can be replicated at home for holiday meals," said Rocio Navarro, Editorial Mango magazine editor. In the first ten months of 2017, the U.S. exported more than 750,000 MT ($234 million) of rice to Mexico, 12 percent more than the same time period in 2016. USA Rice's varied promotional activities have helped play a part in this increase in exports that benefit the entire industry. |
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12:00 AM,
January 04, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:17 AM, January 04, 2018
Rice imports hit two-decade high
Soaring imports fail to rein in
prices
Rice
imports scaled a two-decade high in the first half of the fiscal year as
private importers rushed to make profit from higher prices resulting from huge
crop losses amid three episodes of floods.
Imports of the staple stood at
22.59 lakh tonnes in July-December of fiscal 2017-18, the highest since 1998-99
when a record 30.67 lakh tonnes of rice were bought from external sources in
the full fiscal year, according to food ministry data.
Imports of the staple stood at
22.59 lakh tonnes in July-December of fiscal 2017-18, the highest since 1998-99
when a record 30.67 lakh tonnes of rice were bought from external sources in
the full fiscal year, according to food ministry data.
The government imported 5.08 lakh
tonnes of rice in July-December.
Analysts said imports soared in the
face of speculation of a decline in yield of current aman and low stocks of
previous boro rice at private mills. A slash in import duty to 2 percent from
10 percent in August gave a boost to imports.
Analysts said higher imports will
increase supply, thus helping to stabilise the market and benefit consumers.
But the government should be watchful so that higher imports do not hurt
farmers by creating a glut in the market, they added.
“Imports will continue as prices
are higher in Bangladesh compared to India,” said Citta Majumder, managing
director of Majumder Group of Industries.
Food ministry data showed letters
of credits to import 32 lakh tonnes of rice were opened until December 23 last
year.
The buoyancy in imports continues
at a time when farmers have harvested most of the aman crop, which accounts for
38 percent of the country's annual rice production.
The soaring imports and the harvest
of aman crop have increased the availability of rice. However, prices of the
staple still remain high.
In Dhaka, retail prices of the
coarse and medium quality rice, consumed by the majority of the population,
were Tk 44 to Tk 56 a kg yesterday, according to data from the state-run
Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
Yesterday's prices of coarse and
medium quality grain were 6 percent and 4 percent higher from a month ago, show
TCB data.
Majumder said there is high
speculation that aman output declined in 2017 from a year ago.
The government decision to buy rice
at Tk 39 per kg and millers' rush to buy aman paddy contributed to the higher
prices, he said.
Majumder said the number of buyers
is high this year. Many millers don't have any stock of previous boro paddy and
entered the market to buy aman paddy to keep their mills running.
A US Department of Agriculture
report in November forecasted a drop in aman production to 1.3 crore tonnes in
the fiscal year. The agency also said overall output will decline.
In December, the Food and
Agriculture Organization said total paddy production would fall in 2017 by 3
percent to 5.08 crore tonnes, a five-year low. It estimated paddy output at
5.21 crore tonnes in 2016.
“In Bangladesh, three episodes of
severe floods during 2017 affected large areas of the country, particularly
northern districts, causing losses to the two main boro and aman crops, which
together account for more than 90 percent of total annual output,” said the
FAO.
Rezaul Karim Talukder, poverty and
social protection policy adviser of the FAO Bangladesh, said the floods and a
disease infestation in aman crop might have caused a loss of 15-20 lakh tonnes
of rice.
He said imports are rising as there
is demand from the private and public sectors.
Talukder expected the prices of
rice to become stable for increased imports and the harvest of aman.
Quazi Shahabuddin, a former
director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said the
private sector is importing because of the price gaps between domestic and
international markets.
He stressed ensuring a bumper boro
harvest in the coming season to bring down prices of rice.
http://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/rice-imports-hit-two-decade-high-1514755.
Raid on rice
millers over paddy bungling
By Express News Service |
Published: 04th January 2018 02:02 AM |
Asia rice-markets slow into
year-end; Bangladesh awaits India shipments
THU, DEC 28, 2017 - 9:52 PM
Paddy farmers to get Rs 500 cr
solution for stubble burning hazard
Rice: Thailand, India to lose $8m
daily
…as Nigeria bans imports Thailand and India, the biggest exporters of rice to
Nigeria, may lose over $8 million per day, following the country’s plan to stop
importation of rice this year, New Telegraph has learnt. President Muhammadu
Buhari hadm in his New Year message, last Monday, said that Nigeria will stop
rice importation this year.
Firms, groups seek
government OK to import rice
January 3, 2018
In Photo: In this file photo, a worker arranges sacks
of rice at a National Food Authority warehouse. The government allows the private
sector to import rice under the minimum access volume scheme to boost local
supply.
imports under the 2017 MAV into two phases: from December 20, 2017, until
February 28; and June 1 until August 31.
imports under the 2017 MAV into two phases: from December 20, 2017, until February 28; and June 1 until August 31.
https://businessmirror.com.ph/firms-groups-seek-government-ok-to-import-rice/ Rice basmati, wheat edge up on increased offtake
PTI | Jan 3, 2018, 14:22 IST
Rice imports hit two-decade high
Soaring imports fail to rein in prices
Rice imports
scaled a two-decade high in the first half of the fiscal year as private
importers rushed to make profit from higher prices resulting from huge crop
losses amid three episodes of floods.
Imports of the staple stood at 22.59 lakh tonnes in July-December
of fiscal 2017-18, the highest since 1998-99 when a record 30.67 lakh tonnes of
rice were bought from external sources in the full fiscal year, according to
food ministry data.
http://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/bangladesh-rice-imports-hit-two-decade-high-in-2017-18-fiscal-year-1514755
Firms, groups seek government OK to import rice
January 3, 2018
In Photo: In this file photo, a worker arranges sacks
of rice at a National Food Authority warehouse. The government allows the
private sector to import rice under the minimum access volume scheme to boost
local supply.
imports under the 2017 MAV into two phases: from December 20, 2017, until
February 28; and June 1 until August 31.
imports under the 2017 MAV into two phases: from December 20, 2017, until February 28; and June 1 until August 31.
Rice: Thailand, India to lose $8m daily
…as Nigeria bans imports
President Muhammadu Buhari hadm in his New Year message, last Monday, said that
Nigeria will stop rice importation this year.
A report obtained by our correspondent put the exports to Nigeria by the pair
at $8 million per day.
Besides, statistics from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development (FMARD) revealed that government was already pruning rice
importation quota to importers in order to pave the way for massive local
production.
The report stated that this was already causing panic in the two countries’
economies.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, was quoted as
saying in the report that the plan to stop rice importation was also sending
jitters into the international market, especially major countries benefitting
from Nigeria’s rice importation.
Ogbeh said Nigeria’s annual food import bill of around $20 billion could not be
sustained under the current economic atmosphere, adding that backward
integration programme was the solution to attaining industrialisation.
He said that Nigeria was the largest rice producer in Africa and also the
continent’s biggest importer of the grain.
The report revealed that Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote’s announcement
last year that he was making a $1 billion investment in Nigeria’s rice
production seemed to vindicate government’s approach.
It stated that Dangote Group planned to produce one million tons of parboiled
milled rice over the next five years, equivalent to 16 per cent of domestic
demand.
Other big players in the production chain include Lagos-based conglomerate,
TGI, which opened a rice mill in August with a capacity of 120,000 tons and
Olam Nigeria, part of Singapore-based Olam International, which plans to boost
its existing rice output.
Also, it stated that Dangote’s rice initiative planned to provide inputs such
as seeds and fertiliser, as well as training for nearly 50,000 medium and
smallholder farmers, who will then provide their land and labour.
The report added that some of the government initiatives were in place to
promote small-scale agriculture.
They include the CBN’s $300 million Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, introduced in
2015 to provide cheap loans and input subsidies for hundreds of thousands of
smallholder farmers.
In addition, the World Bank is also supporting government’s agricultural
transformation strategy with a $200 million loan to support small-to mid-scale
rice production. Government’s grow-your-own push seems to be working, according
to the report.
However, in his response to the country’s bid to end rice importation this
year, the Managing Director of Kano State Agricultural and Rural Development
Authority, Mahmoud Daneji, said that government may have a laudable programme
on the table on rice self-sufficiency, but many of the smallholder farmers, who
produce over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s food face an uphill battle to maintain
that supply.
“You may have a very laudable programme, but in as much as there is no input
from the potential beneficiaries, it will definitely fail,” he revealed.
Daneji listed the problems farmers face to include lack of access to quality
seeds, fertiliser, effective agricultural extension systems and access to
credit for those who need it.
He explained that despite the raft of initiatives aimed at boosting output,
farmers still typically worked with their bare hands in fields lacking
irrigation, live in areas with poor roads that limit their access to markets
and are facing a growing threat of climate change without advice on how to
adapt.
“In a survey last year, farmers cited the lack of fertiliser as their biggest
problem by far, despite a long-running government input programme. Nearly
three-quarter of respondents said they were unaware of any government
interventions aimed at helping them,” he said.
Also, the Kano State chair of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria,
Abdulrashid Magaji, said the bulk of government programmes rarely reached their
intended target.
“They go instead to political favourites and close associates of politicians,”
he alleged
President Muhammadu Buhari hadm in his New Year message, last Monday, said that Nigeria will stop rice importation this year.
A report obtained by our correspondent put the exports to Nigeria by the pair at $8 million per day.
Besides, statistics from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) revealed that government was already pruning rice importation quota to importers in order to pave the way for massive local production.
The report stated that this was already causing panic in the two countries’ economies.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, was quoted as saying in the report that the plan to stop rice importation was also sending jitters into the international market, especially major countries benefitting from Nigeria’s rice importation.
Ogbeh said Nigeria’s annual food import bill of around $20 billion could not be sustained under the current economic atmosphere, adding that backward integration programme was the solution to attaining industrialisation.
He said that Nigeria was the largest rice producer in Africa and also the continent’s biggest importer of the grain.
The report revealed that Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote’s announcement last year that he was making a $1 billion investment in Nigeria’s rice production seemed to vindicate government’s approach.
It stated that Dangote Group planned to produce one million tons of parboiled milled rice over the next five years, equivalent to 16 per cent of domestic demand.
Other big players in the production chain include Lagos-based conglomerate, TGI, which opened a rice mill in August with a capacity of 120,000 tons and Olam Nigeria, part of Singapore-based Olam International, which plans to boost its existing rice output.
Also, it stated that Dangote’s rice initiative planned to provide inputs such as seeds and fertiliser, as well as training for nearly 50,000 medium and smallholder farmers, who will then provide their land and labour.
The report added that some of the government initiatives were in place to promote small-scale agriculture.
They include the CBN’s $300 million Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, introduced in 2015 to provide cheap loans and input subsidies for hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers.
In addition, the World Bank is also supporting government’s agricultural transformation strategy with a $200 million loan to support small-to mid-scale rice production. Government’s grow-your-own push seems to be working, according to the report.
However, in his response to the country’s bid to end rice importation this year, the Managing Director of Kano State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority, Mahmoud Daneji, said that government may have a laudable programme on the table on rice self-sufficiency, but many of the smallholder farmers, who produce over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s food face an uphill battle to maintain that supply.
“You may have a very laudable programme, but in as much as there is no input from the potential beneficiaries, it will definitely fail,” he revealed.
Daneji listed the problems farmers face to include lack of access to quality seeds, fertiliser, effective agricultural extension systems and access to credit for those who need it.
He explained that despite the raft of initiatives aimed at boosting output, farmers still typically worked with their bare hands in fields lacking irrigation, live in areas with poor roads that limit their access to markets and are facing a growing threat of climate change without advice on how to adapt.
“In a survey last year, farmers cited the lack of fertiliser as their biggest problem by far, despite a long-running government input programme. Nearly three-quarter of respondents said they were unaware of any government interventions aimed at helping them,” he said.
Also, the Kano State chair of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Abdulrashid Magaji, said the bulk of government programmes rarely reached their intended target.
“They go instead to political favourites and close associates of politicians,” he alleged
One reason Nigeria's dream of
ending rice importation in 2018 is not achievable
·
Published: 03.01.2018
President Muhammadu Buhari says
Nigeria would end the importation of rice from 2018, but this dream seems to be
a mirage due to porous borders across the country.
The president stated this in his
address to the nation on Monday, January 1, 2018, to mark the beginning of a
new year. According to him, a lot of people responded positively to his appeal
of returning back to the farm in 2015. Hence, the increase in local capacity
production of rice and other agricultural products.
Bangladesh December inflation eases to 5.83 pct y/y
DHAKA, Jan 3 (Reuters) -
Bangladesh's annual inflation rate in December eased to 5.83 percent from 5.91
percent the previous month, the statistics bureau said on Wednesday, as prices
of non-food items rose at a slower pace.
Bulog to adopt new approach for better
absorption of farmers' rice
Jakarta | Thu, January 4, 2018 | 11:54 am
Farmers
carry bushels of harvested rice to a mill on Oct. 13, 2017 in Ngawi, East Java.
(Antara/Ari Bowo Sucipto)
Bags of rice and essential
commodities scattered after the accident near Aspari in Kurnool district on
Wednesday. | Photo Credit: U. SUBRAMANYAM
They were
returning home after working in Nalgonda district
Seven agricultural labourers were
killed and 22 others sustained grievous injuries when a tipper overturned after
its rear tyre burst, near the railway gate at Chinnahothur, near Aspari in
Kurnool district, on Wednesday.
Commodity Prices
Soar Due to Bad Weather
https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2018/01/04/056914548/
Commodity-Prices-Soar-Due-to-Bad-Weather NFA to standardize terms of contracted services
By Jed
Macapagal
“The standardization of TORs for service contracts will realize a true,
transparent and competitive bidding in NFA services. It is one of my priority
reform measures since I assumed stewardship of the agency,” NFA administrator
Jason Aquino said in a statement.
NFA said a standard TOR for security services was recently finalized and will
be implemented starting this month in all its offices nationwide.
According to Aquino, contracts, memoranda of agreement and memoranda of
understanding entered into by NFA’s central and field offices varied in form
and content even if they were compliant with pertinent provisions of the law.
For instance, he said, every contract is covered by TOR, but TORs for similar
contracts varied in the various offices of the agency.
Last year, Aquino required all NFA central office department and regional
managers to submit to the agency’s Legal Affairs Department all copies of
contracts entered into in 2016 and earlier, and hold the signing and execution
of new contracts and agreements in order to standardize all contracts across 15
regional and 89 provincial offices nationwide.
He also created a team to look into existing contracts and draft a uniform or
standardized format and TOR for specific agreements such as services, supplies,
and linkages with other government agencies, the private sector and local
government units.
“As a matter of policy, I will allow partiality or bias only if it is in favor
of the government,” Aquino said.
In line with the reforms, concerned NFA personnel were also required to attend
seminars on the Government Procurement Law to ensure that all procurement
procedures are complied.
Earlier, NFA also mentioned it will continue to build up its food security
buffer stocks from domestic palay procurement and rice importation, if necessary,
under a regime where quantitative restriction (QR) on rice has been lifted.
The agency made the statement following speculations that with the lifting of
rice QR in favor of higher tariffs on rice imports, NFA may have to be
reorganized to limit its functions to proprietary activities such as buffer
stocking and local procurement.
“If the past few years are any indication, we have seen a trend where palay
farmgate prices have been on the uptrend, higher than NFA’s support price of
P17 per kilogram. This is the reason we have not been able to meet procurement
targets, resorting to importation to fill in the buffer stock requirement for
food security,” Aquino said recently.
NFA believes it will take a while before the domestic rice market would be able
to adjust to the non-QR regime, but noted the government should continue to
provide safety nets for farmers who may be most affected by the free entry of
imported rice into the country.
NFA also said while performing buffer stock functions, it shall continue to
issue import licenses and provide necessary guidelines to ensure food safety
and quality standards.
QR allows the country to limit the volume of rice imports entering the
Philippines with a tariff of 35 percent. Importing outside the volume restrictions
will entail a higher import tariff.
The economic managers of the Duterte administration earlier decided to allow
the expiration of the QR without applying for another extension before the
World Trade Organization (WTO).
The WTO granted the Philippines an extension of its QR on rice importation
until June 30, 2017 to give local farmers more time to prepare for free trade.
It first allowed the Philippines to impose a 10-year QR on rice imports in
1995. It was extended in 2004 until 2012, and was renewed again in 2014.
“The standardization of TORs for service contracts will realize a true, transparent and competitive bidding in NFA services. It is one of my priority reform measures since I assumed stewardship of the agency,” NFA administrator Jason Aquino said in a statement.
NFA said a standard TOR for security services was recently finalized and will be implemented starting this month in all its offices nationwide.
According to Aquino, contracts, memoranda of agreement and memoranda of understanding entered into by NFA’s central and field offices varied in form and content even if they were compliant with pertinent provisions of the law.
For instance, he said, every contract is covered by TOR, but TORs for similar contracts varied in the various offices of the agency.
Last year, Aquino required all NFA central office department and regional managers to submit to the agency’s Legal Affairs Department all copies of contracts entered into in 2016 and earlier, and hold the signing and execution of new contracts and agreements in order to standardize all contracts across 15 regional and 89 provincial offices nationwide.
He also created a team to look into existing contracts and draft a uniform or standardized format and TOR for specific agreements such as services, supplies, and linkages with other government agencies, the private sector and local government units.
“As a matter of policy, I will allow partiality or bias only if it is in favor of the government,” Aquino said.
In line with the reforms, concerned NFA personnel were also required to attend seminars on the Government Procurement Law to ensure that all procurement procedures are complied.
Earlier, NFA also mentioned it will continue to build up its food security buffer stocks from domestic palay procurement and rice importation, if necessary, under a regime where quantitative restriction (QR) on rice has been lifted.
The agency made the statement following speculations that with the lifting of rice QR in favor of higher tariffs on rice imports, NFA may have to be reorganized to limit its functions to proprietary activities such as buffer stocking and local procurement.
“If the past few years are any indication, we have seen a trend where palay farmgate prices have been on the uptrend, higher than NFA’s support price of P17 per kilogram. This is the reason we have not been able to meet procurement targets, resorting to importation to fill in the buffer stock requirement for food security,” Aquino said recently.
NFA believes it will take a while before the domestic rice market would be able to adjust to the non-QR regime, but noted the government should continue to provide safety nets for farmers who may be most affected by the free entry of imported rice into the country.
NFA also said while performing buffer stock functions, it shall continue to issue import licenses and provide necessary guidelines to ensure food safety and quality standards.
QR allows the country to limit the volume of rice imports entering the Philippines with a tariff of 35 percent. Importing outside the volume restrictions will entail a higher import tariff.
The economic managers of the Duterte administration earlier decided to allow the expiration of the QR without applying for another extension before the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The WTO granted the Philippines an extension of its QR on rice importation until June 30, 2017 to give local farmers more time to prepare for free trade.
It first allowed the Philippines to impose a 10-year QR on rice imports in 1995. It was extended in 2004 until 2012, and was renewed again in 2014.
