3rd April,2017 daily global,regional and local rice e-newsletter by riceplus magazine

Pakistan sends three ships of rice to SL

2017-04-02 22:08:50

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The Government of Pakistan had dispatched three relief ships containing 3000 Metric Tons (Three million kgs) of rice, to as drought relief , Deputy Head of Mission Pakistan High Commission in Sri Lanka Dr. Sarfraz Ahamad Khan said today.

“This relief tranche is a part of total 10, 000 Metric Tons (10 million kgs) of rice approved by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif for drought affected people of Sri Lanka. The remaining 7, 000 Metric Tons rice will also reach Colombo within April 2017,” he said.

Dr. Khan said all consignments were expected to reach Colombo by the third week in April this year.

“We have been maintaining sound diplomatic relationship with Sri Lanka in the past and want to develop it further,” Dr. Khan said while highlighting that Pakistan had helped Sri Lanka whenever there was a natural disaster.

Earlier, in February 2017, the Government of Pakistan sent a relief flight to Colombo containing 25 Metric Tons of rice for drought affected people.

The High Commissioner of Pakistan in Sri Lanka Maj. Gen. (R) Syed Shakeel Hussain will hand over the relief consignments to Sri Lankan authorities at Colombo Port this week.

Both countries have been assisting each other in challenging times especially in view of the catastrophic situations. (Yohan Perera)

- See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Pakistan-sends-three-ships-of-rice-to-SL--126618.html#sthash.OA2UikCi.dpuf

PMB paddy at cut rate for Aloysius’ liquor company

By Kasun Warakapitiya
The Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) has sold paddy stocks stored at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport at cut rate to W M Mendis and Co — a liquor manufacturing firm owned by the influential Aloysius Group, which is associated with the Central Bank bond issue now under investigation.The paddy was hawked off to the company at Rs 24 a kilogram. The PMB had bought the stocks for between Rs 38 and Rs 42 a kilogram. The loss to the Board is, therefore, between Rs 14 and Rs. 18 a kilogram.

The total quantity of paddy sold was 590 metric tonnes, PMB Chairman M.B. Dissanayake, said, claiming that it was pushed off to Mendis because other buyers could not be found. This means that the Board — which comes under the purview of the Rural Economic Affairs Minister P. Harrison — has lost between Rs 8,260,000 and Rs 10,620,000.

Mr. Dissanayake insisted that the stocks were too old to be used and needed to be cleared out. “We tried to export the stocks, sell it to millers, vend it as animal feed but no one bought it,” he said. Some of it was sold to the World Food Programme and certain other buyers but he declined to name the latter. He also said tenders had been called.

A leading union of farmer associations and of small millers contested Mr Dissanayake’s numbers. The All-Island Farmers’ Federation (AIFF) said that as much as 4,000 metric tonnes had been sold to Mendis. If true, this would multiply the PMB’s losses to between Rs 56,000,000 and Rs 72,000,000 (on the basis of information provided by the PMB on the prices it bought and sold the stocks at).

Even while claiming a shortage of paddy in the country, these stocks were stored at MRIA without releasing them to millers, AIFF National Organiser Namal Karunaratne charged. “Then they were sold to a private company manufacturing liquor,” he claimed.

Significantly, the sweetheart sale of paddy to Mendis comes amidst the company starting construction on a Rs 4 billion grain-based extra neutral alcohol (ENA) distillery in Kalkudah in the Batticaloa district. Approval to set up the distillery was granted to the company just 18 weeks after the presidential election was won, among other things, on a premise of eradicating drugs and alcohol. Building is now suspended on an order of the Koralaipattu Pradeshiya Sabha (PS). Local and provincial officials are opposed to the project.

Excess stock from the 2015 paddy harvest was dumped at MRIA in August-September that year due to a lack of adequate storage space and the absence of a plan to distribute paddy to millers. “When certain millers created an artificial rice shortage, the Government had the opportunity to convert the paddy to rice using its own mills at Hasalaka, Galgamuwa or Embilipitiya, said Mr Karunaratne. Some of the paddy was released at animal stocks last year and in January 2017 in private business deals of politicians, he alleged.

Local paddy is used to manufacture beer, while imported rice is provided to consumers, said Mudith Perera, President of the United Rice Millers’ Association (URMA). They too put in tenders to buy some of these stocks but they were not released. There were sufficient millers in Hambantota and other areas willing to purchase the paddy. Yet the Food Committee of the Finance Ministry decided it should be sold to Mendis at Rs 24 a kilogram. The Finance Ministry, through its Fiscal Policy Department and Department of Excise — also approved the Kalkudah distillery.

The allegation that PMB stocks were sold to a liquor company must be inquired into, State Finance Minister Lakshman Yapa Abewardena told a news conference this week. He said he did not know how tenders were called or how the decision to provide the paddy to Mendis was made.

The Sunday Times contacted W M Mendis and Co. Officials there declined comment, even after inviting this journalist to its head office at Welisara in Wattala. Subsequent phone calls to the company went unanswered

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170402/news/pmb-paddy-at-cut-rate-for-aloysius-liquor-company-235196.html

Q1 rice output increased 5.3%

posted April 02, 2017 at 08:44 pm by Anna Leah E. Gonzales

Rice harvests in the first quarter of 2017 increased by over 5 percent from a year ago, despite the smaller production area, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said over the weekend.

Piñol said rice production, based on the Philippine satellite monitoring data which validated on the ground, reached 4.14 million metric tons in January to March, up  5.3 percent from 3.93 million MT harvested in the same period last year.

He said the growth in rice output came despite the smaller production area of 997,687 hectares in the first quarter this year from 1.081 million hectares a year earlier.

Piñol attributed the growth in rice output to improved productivity in 2017.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol

Philippine Rice Research Institute executive director Sailila Abdula confirmed that for the first time in the history of rice farming, Filipino farmers posted a 4.15-metric-ton average yield per hectare per harvest this year, breaking the previous average of only 3.9 MT per hectare.

“The PRiSM satellite-generated data validated my earlier projection based on ocular appreciation that the country will enjoy a bumper harvest this planting season,” Piñol said. 

He said the higher rice production was achieved despite the destruction caused by typhoon Niña which affected the Bicol region. 

Bicol or Region V harvested just 159,611 metric tons from an area of 44,336 hectares out of the region’s rice area of 101,000 hectares, translating into a low average yield of 3.6 metric tons per hectare.

Central Luzon posted the highest average yield per region at 4.84 metric tons per hectare. 

“The higher average yield in the Central Luzon area is credited mainly to the increasing number of farmers who are using hybrid rice seeds,” Piñol said. 

Piñol said in Nueva Ecija where almost half of the farmers were already using hybrid rice seeds, the average yield per hectare reached 6.09 metric tons.

“The Department of Agriculture is promoting the nationwide use of hybrid rice seeds which have been proven to produce double the production average of inbred rice seeds,” Piñol said. 

Piñol said with the improving rice productivity, the Philippines was on track to achieving self sufficiency in the staple by 2020.

“The national hybrid rice seeds program, along with the provision of small-scale irrigation systems, mechanization and the availability of easy credit and financing for the farmers, is expected to boost the country’s rice production and achieve rice sufficiency by 2020,” Piñol said.

http://thestandard.com.ph/business/csr-mining/233386/q1-rice-output-increased-5-3-.html

 

Basmati rice exports may grow to Rs 22,000-22,500 cr in FY18: ICRA

"In FY18, the value of exports is likely to grow to Rs 22,000–22,500 crore, with export volumes growing to around 4.09 million tonne and supported by an increase in average realisations," Jotwani added.

    

Basmati rice exports is likely to grow to Rs 22,000–22,500 crore and volume to around 4.09 million tonne mainly supported by an increase in average realisations, rating agency ICRA said in a report today.

"We expect the export volumes in FY17 to be around 4 million tonne (almost similar to the volumes in FY2016). However, muted average realisations are expected to keep the value of these exports to under Rs 21,000 crore, against Rs 22,718 crore in FY16," said ICRA Assistant Vice President Deepak Jotwani.

"In FY18, the value of exports is likely to grow to Rs 22,000–22,500 crore, with export volumes growing to around 4.09 million tonne and supported by an increase in average realisations," Jotwani added.

This is likely to push up Basmati rice prices in the next fiscal, he said.

Resumption of imports by Iran will be keenly watched by the industry as it has the potential to provide an impetus to exports, he added.

"Going forward, the coming financial year is expected to witness better revenue growth supported by a rise in average realisations, as paddy prices firm up during the current procurement season. Moreover, resumption of imports by Iran will also be crucial for driving industry growth in the next fiscal," Jotwani said.

The basmati rice industry witnessed moderation over the last few years on the back of subdued international demand, partly attributable to the delay in resumption of imports by Iran.

However, 2016-17 has seen some stabilisation in demand, ICRA said, adding after peaking at Rs 29,300 crore in FY14, the value of basmati rice exports went on a downward trajectory.

While volumes saw some growth over the last few years, the decline in value is primarily owing to continued pressure on average realisations (declined from a high of Rs 77,988 per tonne in FY14 to Rs 56,149 per tonne in FY16) in the light of moderation in demand in the global market, ICRA said.

Nevertheless, the export volumes in the current fiscal have largely been in line with last year, being supported by the increasing domestic demand for basmati rice, the report added.

It said, the industry has registered milling gains on paddy procured at a fairly low rate in the last procurement season and favourable foreign exchange rate movement.

For the next fiscal, the industry is expected to benefit from the rising paddy prices, ICRA said.

After declining considerably during the procurement season in FY16, basmati paddy prices have firmed up by 20-25 per cent across various varieties, primarily due to the relatively lower production, in the recent procurement season - October to December 2016, the agency noted

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/basmati-rice-exports-may-grow-to-rs-22000-22500-cr-in-fy18-icra-2249507.html

 

Basmati rice shares in focus; LT Foods, KRBL hit new highs

In FY17, LT Foods and Kohinoor Foods rallied more than 100%

SI Reporter  |  Mumbai March 31, 2017 Last Updated at 10:09 IST

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Basmati rice stocks rally; LT Foods, KRBL hit 52-week highBasmati rice stocks gain; Kohinoor Foods, LT Foods up over 5%Basmati exporters' scrips rise on high shipment, price outlookCurrency crisis in Iran hits India's basmati rice exportsRice scrips gain as China opens market

Shares of basmati rice producers rallied by up to 9%, extending their previous day gains on hopes that the coming financial year is expected to witness better revenue growth for the industry supported by a rise in average realizations.

LT Foods, the company engaged in the manufacture and sale of rice under the brand DAAWAT, has rallied 9% to Rs 67.50, also its record high on the BSE.

Kohinoor Foods (up 5% to Rs 86.50), Chaman Lal Setia Exports (3% at Rs 105) and KRBL (up 2% at Rs 432) were up in the range of 2% to 5%, as compared to 0.02% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Basmati rice exports is likely to grow to Rs 22,000-22,500 crore and volume to around 4.09 million tonne mainly supported by an increase in average realisations, rating agency ICRA said in a report.

“Going forward, the coming financial year is expected to witness better revenue growth supported by a rise in average realisations, as paddy prices firm up during the current procurement season. Moreover, resumption of imports by Iran will also be crucial for driving industry growth in the next fiscal," said ICRA Assistant Vice President Deepak Jotwani. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT

Most of these stocks outperformed the market by surging up to 200% in FY17 against 17% rise in the benchmark index.Meanwhile, these four rice companies had posted an average 44% year-on-year growth in net profit for the first nine months (April to December) of FY17. The aggregate net profit of these companies increased to Rs 419 crore in FY17 from Rs 291 crore in FY16.

	Price in Rs			Net proft/loss (Rs cr)
Company	31/03/2016	Latest	% chg	9MFY16	9MFY17
L T Foods	22.59	67.50	198.8	66.6	83.7
Kohinoor Foods	42.80	87.00	103.3	-5.6	15.6
KRBL	222.60	432.00	94.1	199.8	289.6
Chamanlal Setia	55.55	103.90	87.0	30.7	30.1

http://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/basmati-rice-shares-in-focus-lt-foods-krbl-hit-new-highs-117033100196_1.html

8 things you should be buying now

Deb Terrill

·        Apr 1, 2017 

Roasted Chicken

Golden roasted chicken, ready to serve.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

In lieu of my usual column, this week is about solving kitchen-conundrums, making dinner easy and getting the most health benefits out of your food. Next time your at the store, pick up these eight items to add spice, and health, to your meals.

MAE PLOY SAUCE

You are binge watching a season of "The Good Wife." You take a minute to heat up some pot stickers, but you don't have time to whip up a dipping sauce. What to do? No worries if you have a bottle of Mae Ploy stashed in the fridge. The stuff is perfect for dipping as is, or you can add soy sauce, lime juice or hot sauce to customize it to your liking.

Mae Ploy is a sweet chili condiment with a mild amount of heat. It is sold at Wal-Mart locally, and the stuff is pretty versatile. I add some orange juice concentrate to it to make a pretty decent orange chicken, and I love it over rice and vegetables.

DELI ROTISSERIE CHICKEN

These birds are packed in brine, roasted at 500 degrees and packed hot. They are the same whole chickens you can buy uncooked and take home to roast for yourself, only somehow cheaper. But I almost can guarantee you these will be juicy and tender every time.

I like to harvest the meat, use it for a couple of meals and simmer the carcass to make homemade chicken broth for soup. They make a rich, particularly flavorful broth, especially when you use the skin. Just cover them with water and simmer for an hour or so, strain out the solids and seal the broth in a quart jar. The fat will rise to the top and solidify, making it easy to remove.

We use the chicken for chicken salad, to slice and eat with vegetables and to make chicken and noodles. The smaller pieces of meat usually get tossed into a stir fry.

Two hints: Look for the time stamp on the birds to make sure yours hasn't been sitting for more than three hours. Also, pick up several birds and "weigh" them with your hands. They can vary in weight as much as a pound, so choose the heaviest bird.

BABY CUCUMBERS

These little cucumbers have it all. They are single serving sized, you can eat the tender skin (they haven't been waxed) and they have undeveloped seeds so you can eat the whole thing. I find them to be sweet and never bitter, as large cucumbers can be. We eat them whole, like a finger food snack, or use them in salads, to make dips and to make white salsa. Put them in the kids' lunch box and keep a few near your desk for a crunchy little wake up snack.

GHEE

Ghee is clarified butter. It tastes like butter, but the milk solids have been removed making it a pure fat that doesn't burn easily like butter. We use it to pop popcorn, sear meat, fry fish and saute vegetables. It can be expensive and typically is found in stores that have a large Indian customer base, but we buy it at Costco, where you can get a 56-ounce tub for $15.99. It keeps forever and does not require refrigerating.

LEMONS AND LIMES

Lemons and limes add magic to so many foods. Squeeze lemons over fish while you are pan frying it in butter and limes over tacos and grilled skirt steak. A squeeze of lemon, a bit of honey and a splash of oil make a salad dressing that is figure friendly, whole foods based and with wonderfully bright flavors. Lemon or lime zest and juice, fresh ginger and a smidge of honey make basmati rice a real treat with stir fry.

Lemons in iced tea, hot tea and your water bottle add a lot of healthy, plant based elements to your diet. Buy them by the dozen when they are on sale. If they begin to wither, squeeze them and freeze the juice in an ice cube tray to use later.

TURMERIC

Turmeric is in the ginger family and the powder is made from the roots, which resemble skinny ginger roots, only with bright orange flesh. Turmeric has so many widely advertised health properties it could be considered a one stop pharmacy. Chief among these are its anti-inflammatory compounds, immune system boosters, ability to regulate blood sugar and its cancer fighting curcumin.

Now, this is important: Using turmeric naturally as part of your diet is very safe and beneficial, but taking it in high doses as a pill supplement could cause bleeding or very low iron absorption. It should never be taken by pregnant women.

Turmeric will add yellow coloring to rice, milk, hot cereal and just about anything you use it in, but it has very little flavor. Add it to just about anything and you'll barely know it is there. This makes it ideal for smoothies.

Be sure to do your reading and buy a good brand. Bags of very cheap turmeric likely will not be pure. I buy mine at Indian markets. (And please: It's pronounced tur-mer-ick, not toom-er-ick.)

OATMEAL

Eating oatmeal for breakfast every other day has been proven to naturally lower cholesterol but only if you are eating whole oats, rolled or steel cut. Those packets of processed, sugar laden oats you mix with hot water are pretty useless.

Overnight oats are very popular now and for good reason. They are easy to prepare, portable and very yummy.

Use a pint jar for one person and a quart jar for several. For each serving, add one cup whole milk, 2/3 cup whole oats, some honey or brown sugar and from there, it's wide open. I always use chia seeds and flax meal. You won't know either of them are there, but the chia seeds do add a particular silkiness.

I use walnuts, pecans or dried or fresh fruit, such as chopped apples, blueberries, strawberries or raspberries. And then, here's the best, most healthful benefit: a teaspoon of cinnamon and a half teaspoon of turmeric. It's a totally painless way to add these anti-inflammatory spices to your diet in a regular, meaningful way. Give it a stir and seal, refrigerate overnight and eat them cold or heat them in the microwave.

Bill doesn't like to eat at 4 or 5 a.m., so I heat up a jar of them for him when he leaves, and he can pull over in a rest stop and eat them later. I also can send jars with everything but the milk, which he can add in his hotel room and be ready to enjoy the oats in the morning. Hotel breakfast options are rarely diabetic friendly, so this works well for him on days he doesn't want to eat rubber eggs.

COCONUT OIL

Organic virgin coconut oil is another pure fat that does not need to be refrigerated. In fact, it becomes so solid when chilled it is as hard as cold butter. At room temp, it is liquid when the room is above 70 and soft solid below 70.

It does have a very mild coconut flavor, and it does burn too easily to use for many jobs, such as popping popcorn or searing. But it is very useful in salad dressings and sauteeing.

It makes my list though because it is brilliant in baking. Recipes that call for all butter can harden quickly and become dry. But using vegetable oil and shortening is no longer desirable. Enter coconut oil. I used it to replace the shortening in Paula Deen's pound cake and in Snickerdoodles and was very pleased with the results

Q1 rice output up 5.34%

By BusinessMirror

APRIL 2, 2017

Philippine rice production in the first quarter expanded by 5.34 percent to 4.14 million metric tons (MMT), from the 3.93 MMT recorded in the same period last year, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the increase in production could be attributed to good weather and the use of high-yielding hybrid rice seeds.

“The country’s rice farmers harvested 210,668 metric tons [MT] more in the first quarter of 2017 than they did during the same period in 2016, according to the satellite and ground validated data provided by the Philippine Rice Satellite Monitoring [PRiSM],” Piñol said in his Facebook post over the weekend.

“According to the PRiSM satellite data, which were validated on the ground, a total of 4,142,960 MT was harvested from an area of 997,687 hectares in the first quarter, compared to only 3,932,292 MT, from a bigger area of 1,081,096 hectares during the same period in 2016,” he added.PRiSM is an online database-system initiative between the DA and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to support the DA’s national rice program by providing accurate and real-time monitoring data on the country’s rice production, according to the IRRI.

Citing Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) Executive Director Sailila E. Abdula, Piñol said the country’s average yield per hectare per harvest has breached 4 MT.

“Abdula also confirmed that for the first time in the history of rice farming, the country’s farmers posted a 4.15-MT average yield per hectare per harvest, breaking the previous average of only 3.9 MT per hectare,” he said.

“Higher rice production was achieved even with the destruction caused by Typhoon Nina in the Bicol region, which harvested only 159,611 MT from an area of 44,336 hectares out of the regional rice area of 101,000 hectares with a low average yield of 3.6 MT per hectare,” Piñol added.

Earlier, the DA chief said he expects a bumper rice harvest in the January-to-March period based on his “visual appreciation” during his trips around the country. Piñol visited central Mindanao, Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Quezon and Bicol.

“I am upbeat that we will have a bumper harvest this year, considering that we didn’t have any major typhoon, no rat infestation or outbreak of diseases,” Piñol said.

Citing data from PRiSM, Piñol said Central Luzon—comprised of Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Bulacan, Aurora, Zambales and Bataan—was the top rice-producing region, with the highest average yield pegged at 4.84 mt/hectare.

“The higher average yield in the Central Luzon area is credited mainly to the increasing number of farmers who are using hybrid-rice seeds,” he said.

“In Nueva Ecija, where almost 50 percent of the farmers are already using hybrid-rice seeds, the average yield per hectare is 6.09 MT,” he added.

Other top rice producers in terms of average yield were the Ilocos region (4.71 MT/hectare) and Davao region (4.55 MT/hectare), according to Piñol. Rice-producing regions that also breached the 4 MT/hectare-level were: Northern Mindanao (4.39 MT/hectare); the Cordillera Administrative Region (4.10 MT/hectare) and Zamboanga Peninsula (4.07 MT/hectare).

“All the other regions failed to breach the 4-MT average yield per hectare, including Western Visayas, which includes Iloilo province, where the national record yield of 16 MT per hectare was posted by a farmer in Pototan town who used hybrid-rice seeds,” Piñol said.“The hybrid-rice seeds utilization among rice farmers in Western Visayas is only 10 percent,” he added.

Barring any major climatic disturbances, the DA chief said the country’s rice output would also be higher in the April-to-June period.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/q1-rice-output-up-5-34/