Thursday, July 14, 2016

30th June,2016 daily global and regional rice enewsletter by ricpelus magazine



Today Rice News Headlines...



·         Trade with Iran yet to normalise
·         Asia Rice-Vietnam prices drop on southern harvest; Thailand hold stable
·         Annual Rice Field Day, Aug. 31, Biggs
·         NFA supply enough to cover lean months ahead
·         New restrictions aim to curb rice imports
·         Good price expected when 1.11million tonnes of rice goes to auction
·         Top scientists urge Greenpeace to drop GM, Golden Rice campaign
·         Rice-for-child swap on the rice (sorry, rise)
·         Four get World Food Prize
·         NFA: There is enough rice for the lean months
·         Govt Approves Rice Loans
·         Paddy farmers ‘watching’ rain; sowing expected to pick up in coming days
·         06/29/2016 Farm Bureau Market Report




Trade with Iran yet to normalise

Mubarak Zeb Khan ISLAMABAD: After lifting of sanctions on Iran in February, Pakistan is yet to normalise business activities with the country.On Tuesday, Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan directed representatives of banks to furnish viable proposals for facilitation of banking transactions for trade with Iran within a month.The directive came from the minister in a meeting with the officials of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and private banks for exploring banking channels available for trade with post-sanctions Iran. Several meetings were held earlier to chalk out ways for restoring the banking channel, but with no fruitful results despite repeated requests from the trading community.The commerce minister said Pakistan is searching for ways and means to initiate trade with Iran in a big way despite several impediments.In March 2016, Iranian President visited Islamabad to boost bilateral trade to $5 billion in five years. During the visit, both sides also inked a framework to initiate talks on a free trade agreement (FTA), which will cover trade in goods, services and investment by June 2016.

The agreement is part of the five-year strategic trade cooperation plan (2016-2021). An official statement issued after the meeting said that the meeting was informed that despite removal of sanctions, private banks are reluctant to establish direct banking channels with Iran. Usually, the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) leads others. However, it has also not yet taken any concrete step this time around. Representatives of Pakistani private banks visited Iran a few months ago and report great enthusiasm in Iran regarding trade with Pakistan. SBP and Central Bank of Iran signed a Letter of Intent on the occasion of visit of Iranian President to Pakistan for enhancing mutual cooperation and establishing direct banking links. Yet the progress on restoration of banking channel is very slow.

Pakistani traders sense great opportunities of export right next door with minimal transportation costs, especially that of basmati rice which earlier used to fetch millions of dollars.Pakistan-Iran trade which was over one billion dollars, now stands at $270 million because of the international sanctions. Pakistan’s exports to Iran are limited to few products as 63 per cent of the proceeds come only from rice. Exports to Iran fell to $43 million in 2014 from $182m in 2010, while imports plunged to $186m in 2014 from $884m in 2010. UN sanctions on Iran were the biggest reason behind this drop.

Pakistan’s commerce ministry is extensively engaged with the Iranian ministries of trade and industry and agriculture to fully operationalise the preferential trade agreement (PTA) signed in 2006 and enhance trade facilitation at the border. Pakistan has also sought a response from Iran on tariff and non-tariff trade barriers. In the last four years, Iran diverted its trade towards India and Turkey and there had been a marked increase in its bilateral trade with these two countries. There has also been little benefit because of high tariff on Pakistan’s exportable products.
The commerce minister recently paid a visit to Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan and inspected the facilities available for smooth movement of vehicles trading across the border and promised to upgrade the infrastructure.As per the five-year economic engagement plan agreed between Pakistan and Iran, the ministry of commerce has forwarded the draft FTA framework agreement to Iran. However, the response from the Iranian side is still awaited

Asia Rice-Vietnam prices drop on southern harvest; Thailand hold stable

Wednesday, 29 June 2016 14:51
HANOI: Rice export prices held stable in Thailand before a state stock auction in July, while rising supplies from a harvest in southern Vietnam have weakened prices slightly, traders said on Wednesday.
Buyers in Thailand, the world's second-biggest rice exporter after India, held back purchases, creating thin demand, before the government auction expected next month, traders in Bangkok said. The date of the auction is not yet known.
In the last auction of state stockpiles held on June 15, the Thai government sold 1.11 million tonnes worth 11.54 billion baht ($327 million).
Thailand's 5 percent broken rice stood unchanged in the past week at $415-$438 a tonne, FOB Bangkok.
Thai rice prices are expected to ease soon as the U.S. dollar has appreciated after the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union last week, resulting in a slightly weaker Thai baht.
"This is likely to lower our dollar prices, making our rice prices more competitive with Vietnam," a trader said.
Thailand has exported 4.7 million tonnes of rice in the first six months of 2016, up 11.42 percent from a year ago, Thailand's commerce minister said June 23.
In Vietnam, export prices of lower-quality 25 percent broken rice eased on rising supplies because of an accelerating harvest, while buying demand has yet to pick up, traders said.
The variety weakened to $335-$340 a tonne, FOB basis, using fresh summer-autumn grain, from $340-$345 last Wednesday, while the 5-percent broken rice stood unchanged at $370-$380 a tonne.
China, Vietnam's top rice importer, is not active, while Vietnamese jasmine rice has sold well to Ghana, traders said.
Ghana has passed the Philippines to emerge as Vietnam's third-biggest rice buyer after China and Indonesia during the first five months of 2016, importing 203,000 tonnes during that time, up 49.2 percent from a year ago, Vietnam's farm ministry said.
Vietnam's first-half rice exports fell 6.8 percent from a year earlier to 2.78 million tonnes, based on government statistics released on Tuesday.
A smaller winter-spring crop, Vietnam's biggest rice harvest period, has curbed the agricultural sector's growth, slowing Vietnam's economic expansion.
The crop paddy output fell 6.4 percent from last year to 19.4 million tonnes due to drought and salination, Nguyen Bich Lam, head of the statistics office, said in a report on Tuesday.
Supply from India, Thailand and Vietnam, the world's biggest exporters, accounts for a combined 66 percent of global rice trade

Annual Rice Field Day, Aug. 31, Biggs

Wednesday, August 31, 2016 • Biggs, CA
If you’re in the California rice industry, mark your calendar now to attend for the annual Rice Field Day on Aug. 31, 2016 at the Rice Experiment Station (RES) in Biggs, Calif.
The purpose of the event is for rice growers and other industry members to learn about rice research underway at the RES.
Agenda:
7:30 a.m. - Registration
8:30 - General Session (CCRRF annual membership meeting, rice research trust report, and the California rice industry award)
9:30 – Rice research field tours (focusing on variety improvement, disease resistance, insects and control, plus weeds and control)
Noon – Lunch
Posters and demonstrations will be available from registration through lunch.
The Rice Field Day is sponsored by the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation and the University of California.
The RES is located at 955 Butte City Highway (Hwy. 162), approximately 2.5 miles west of Hwy. 99 north of Biggs.
For more information, visit http://www.crrf.or
http://westernfarmpress.com/annual-rice-field-day-aug-31-biggs

NFA supply enough to cover lean months ahead

By: Angel Palpal-latoc

Philippine Daily Inquirer

12:16 AM June 30th, 2016


The National Food Authority (NFA) said there was no need yet to import milled rice since the country’s supply was still enough to meet domestic needs.
NFA officer-in-charge Tomas R. Escarez in a statement assured the public  the agency has more than the required 30-day buffer stock before the lean months in grain production begin. He said current inventories were enough to last for 32 days.
“We have more than enough stocks of the good quality, low-priced NFA rice for the lean months,” Escarez said.
He said the national rice inventory currently stood at 3.54 metric tons (MT), good to last for 110 days based on the national daily requirement of 32,560 MT.
Of the inventory, 1.02 million MT is with the NFA, 1.04 million MT is in commercial warehouses, and 1.47 million MT is kept in households.
“These stocks are now strategically prepositioned across the country, especially in calamity-vulnerable areas,” Escarez said.
The NFA chief said he has ordered all the agency’s field offices to closely monitor the rice supply and price situation in all markets nationwide.
He also instructed the offices to accredit more rice outlets to assure low-income residents could have access to the NFA supplies.
“Closer price monitoring and the opening of more rice outlets will ensure that our people will always have access to NFA rice,” Escarez said.
Despite sufficient rice supply, the Philippine government has expressed interest in Thailand’s efforts to sell stockpiled rice, the World Trade Organization said earlier this month.
In the fourth quarter of 2015, the NFA purchased 750,000 tons of rice from state-run suppliers in Vietnam and Thailand.

New restrictions aim to curb rice imports

Wed, 29 June 2016
The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on Monday that the government will block all illegal rice imports at its borders and limit legal rice shipments from Vietnam based on production cost.
As part of the new regime, only milled rice with a production cost of $300 to $600 per tonne can legally be imported from Vietnam. The goal, according to the ministry, is to eliminate cheap Vietnamese rice that sells for $200 or less per tonne from the Cambodian market.
The ministry also requires identifying features, such as the name of the rice producer, rice variety and any trademarks, to be visible on imported packages in order to assess its true cost.
Moul Sarith, secretary-general of the Cambodian Rice Federation (CRF), the industry body representing the Kingdom’s rice millers and exporters, said the new policy would help Cambodia’s struggling rice sector survive amid an onslaught of cheap Vietnamese milled rice.
“This mechanism will control the flood of rice imports from Vietnam as well as rice smuggling,” he said yesterday. “It will also control the quality rice in the market.”
According to Sarith, Vietnamese rice produced for $200 to $300 per tonne was cheaper than locally milled rice, even with a 17 per cent import and VAT tax assessed.
He also said the government will exempt rice producers from paying a 15 per cent tax on day-worker salaries, as well as give a $20 million to $30 million loan to the CRF to help keep the local industry afloat, provided the organisation can produce a transparent spending budget.
In March, the CRF called on the government to take urgent measures aimed at addressing two key challenges to the domestic industry: millers’ insufficient access to capital and the flood of illegal rice imports from neighbouring countries.
The request followed a separate initiative by the Cambodian Rice Industry Survival Implementation Strategy (CRISIS) group, which provided a nine-point action plan to address .
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A worker stacks sacks of rice in Phnom Penh earlier this year. Hong Menea
Good price expected when 1.11million tonnes of rice goes to auction
The Nation June 27, 2016 5:47 pm
The Rice Policy Management Committee Monday agreed to sell 1.11 million tonnes of rice to 29 traders, which should earn the country Bt11.54 billion.Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said that with demand for rice rising in the market, the government could gain a good price from the latest auction.The traders were among the 64 that joined the year's fourth round of bidding for 2.23 million tonnes of rice.
The government has managed to dispose of 6.59 million tonnes of its rice worth Bt69 billion via tender in the past two years, leaving 9.5 million tonnes in its inventory. It will try to unload as much of this rice as possible this year.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Good-price-expected-when-1-11-tonnes-of-rice-goes--30289223.html


 Top scientists urge Greenpeace to drop GM, Golden Rice campaign


NOAH BERGER/BLOOMBERG
Javier Alcantar tends to corn crops at the Monsanto test field in Woodland, California. Monsanto is the world's largest producer of genetically engineered seed.
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More than 100 Nobel laureates have signed a letter urging Greenpeace to end its opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
The letter asks Greenpeace to cease its efforts to block introduction of a genetically engineered strain of rice that supporters say could reduce Vitamin-A deficiencies causing blindness and death in children in the developing world.
"We urge Greenpeace and its supporters to re-examine the experience of farmers and consumers worldwide with crops and foods improved through biotechnology, recognise the findings of authoritative scientific bodies and regulatory agencies, and abandon their campaign against 'GMOs' in general and Golden Rice in particular," the letter states.
The campaign was organised by Richard Roberts, chief scientific officer of New England Biolabs and, with Phillip Sharp, the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for the discovery of genetic sequences known as introns.
The campaign has a website, supportprecisionagriculture.org, that includes a running list of the signatories, and the group plans to hold a news conference on Thursday.
"We're scientists. We understand the logic of science. It's easy to see what Greenpeace is doing is damaging and is anti-science," Roberts told The Washington Post.
"Greenpeace initially, and then some of their allies, deliberately went out of their way to scare people. It was a way for them to raise money for their cause."
BIG LAUREATE ENDORSEMENT
Roberts said he endorses many other activities of Greenpeace and said he hopes the group, after reading the letter, would "admit that this is an issue that they got wrong and focus on the stuff that they do well".
Greenpeace is hardly the only group that opposes GMOs, but it has a robust global presence, and the laureates in their letter contend that Greenpeace has led the effort to block golden rice, which has been genetically modified to produce beta carotene, a compound the body turns into Vitamin A.
The list of signatories had risen to 107 names by Wednesday. Roberts said that by his count, there are 296 living laureates.
Nobel laureate Randy Schekman, a cell biologist at the University of California at Berkeley, said, "I find it surprising that groups that are very supportive of science when it comes to global climate change, or even, for the most part, in the appreciation of the value of vaccination in preventing human disease, yet can be so dismissive of the general views of scientists when it comes to something as important as the world's agricultural future."
The letter states: "Scientific and regulatory agencies around the world have repeatedly and consistently found crops and foods improved through biotechnology to be as safe as, if not safer than those derived from any other methods of production. There has never been a single confirmed case of a negative health outcome for humans or animals from their consumption. Their environmental impacts have been shown repeatedly to be less damaging to the environment, and a boon to global biodiversity.
"Greenpeace has spearheaded opposition to Golden Rice, which has the potential to reduce or eliminate much of the death and disease caused by a vitamin A deficiency (VAD), which has the greatest impact on the poorest people in Africa and Southeast Asia.
"The World Health Organisation estimates that 250 million people, suffer from VAD, including 40 percent of the children under five in the developing world.
"Based on UNICEF statistics, a total of one to two million preventable deaths occur annually as a result of VAD, because it compromises the immune system, putting babies and children at great risk. VAD itself is the leading cause of childhood blindness globally affecting 250,000 - 500,000 children each year. Half die within 12 months of losing their eyesight."
'GENETIC POLLUTION'
The scientific consensus is that gene editing in a laboratory is not more hazardous than modifications through traditional breeding and that engineered plants potentially have environmental or health benefits, such as cutting down on the need for pesticides.
A report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, released in May, said there is no substantiated evidence that GMO crops have sickened people or harmed the environment, but also cautioned that such crops are relatively new and that it is premature to make broad generalisations, positive or negative, about their safety.
Opponents of GMOs have said these crops may not be safe for human or animal consumption, have not been shown to improve crop yields, have led to excessive use of herbicides and can potentially spread engineered genes beyond the boundaries of farms.
Greenpeace International's website states that the release of GMOs is a form of "genetic pollution".
It continues: "Genetic engineering enables scientists to create plants, animals and micro-organisms by manipulating genes in a way that does not occur naturally. These genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can spread through nature and interbreed with natural organisms, thereby contaminating non 'GE' environments and future generations in an unforeseeable and uncontrollable way."
Virtually all crops and livestock have been genetically engineered in the broadest sense; there are no wild cows, and the cornfields of the United States reflect many centuries of plant modification through traditional breeding. Genetically modified crops became common in the mid-1990s; today, most of the corn, soybeans and cotton in the country have been modified to be resistant to insects or tolerant of herbicide.
Opponents of GMOs have focused on the economic and social repercussions.
Greenpeace has warned of the corporate domination of the food supply, saying that small farmers will suffer. A Greenpeace spokesman Wednesday referred a reporter to a Greenpeace publication titled "Twenty Years of Failure: Why GM crops have failed to deliver on their promises."
This debate between mainstream scientists and environmental activists isn't new, and there is little reason to suspect that the Nobel laureates will persuade GMO opponents to stand down. But Columbia University's Martin Chalfie, who shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry for research on green fluorescent protein, said he thinks laureates can be influential on the GMO issue.
"Is there something special about Nobel laureates? I'm not so sure we're any more special than other scientists who have looked at the evidence involved, but we have considerably more visibility because of the prize. I think that this behooves us, that when we feel that science is not being listened to, that we speak out."
Roberts has worked on previous campaigns that sought to leverage the influence of Nobel laureates.
In 2012, for example, he organised a campaign to persuade Chinese authorities to release from house arrest the human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo.
Roberts said he decided to take on the GMO issue after hearing from colleagues that their research was being impeded by anti-GMO activism from Greenpeace and other organisations.
 Rice-for-child swap on the rice (sorry, rise)
Posted By: Hardballon: June 29, 2016
in the mid-80s was a-rice o compatriots! Then essential commodities, most notably, rice was so scarce that each time Nigerians heard the word rise, in any conversation, speech or even the national anthem, they would come to attention, if only to find out the next location for the rationed sale of rice.
There was a famous cartoon in one national newspaper of that era, which depicted guests apparently at a seminar snoring away even as the speaker pranced and puffed, presenting his speech. The great moment came when the speaker said: “In conclusion, all these would give rise…” and pronto, the snoozing audience came alive exclaiming: “Rice? Did he just say rice?! Where?!”
Today, Nigeria’s rice conundrum has shifted another gear and downhill it seems to throttle. Two grievous incidents happened last week to buttress this point.
Inside Government House, Borno State, Northeast of Nigeria, there was a near-fatal shootout as policemen and soldiers struggled over control of bags of rice meant for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Also in Borno, some officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were apprehended attempting to re-bag rice meant for IDPs with a view to diverting them.
But all these would be mild drama compared to the event last Sunday at Singer Market, Fagge Local Government Area of Kano State. A man identified as Mallam Yusuf Bala procured a bag of rice from Alhaji Suleiman Bagudu, a rice dealer in the market and reportedly left his five-year-old son at the rice dealer’s. He had promised to dash home for some more money to make payment. He never returned for his boy.
When he was traced to his residence, he confessed he was impoverished, thus had to devise such a means to find sustenance for his family. This trick is not novel by any means. A woman had played it out quite successfully in Akure, Ondo State recently.
With the strictures at the land borders to curb rice importation and attendant massive smuggling, it has become apparent that Nigeria, the giant of Africa boasting of a population of over 170 million, can hardly produce one tenth of her most important staple food. The prices of the imported commodity have continued to skyrocket, almost jumping out of the reach of the common man. A 50 kg bag, which sold for a little below N10, 000 about a year ago, has almost double, depending on the city you are.
One worries that so much hoopla has been made about local production of rice; in fact, the last government had claimed it was going to achieve local sufficiency by 2015. Yet hardly can local rice be found in any significant quantity in any part of the country. So much for diversification of the economy, food security and the rediscovery of Nigeria’s rice belt, which had been the buzz phrases in the past few years?
We knew about crude oil swap deals; now we have rice for child swaps; what next
http://thenationonlineng.net/rice-child-swap-rice-sorry-rise/

Four get World Food Prize

Dr Bouis, who helped Bangladeshi scientists breed world's first zinc-enriched rice, among winners
The 2016 World Food Prize Laureates (from left to right) - Dr. Maria Andrade, Dr. Robert Mwanga and Dr. Jan Low, three scientists of the International Potato Center (CIP), and Dr Howarth Bouis, founder of the HarvestPlus.
Staff Correspondent
Founder of an international organisation that helped Bangladeshi scientists breed the world's first zinc-enriched rice has been announced this year's World Food Prize recipient along with three other pioneers of biofortified crops.
Names of Howarth Bouis, founder of HarvestPlus, and three scientists of the International Potato Centre (CIP) -- Maria Andrade, Robert Mwanga and Jan Low -- were announced as the 2016 World Food Prize Laureates during a ceremony at the US State Department in Washington DC yesterday.
Releases issued by the World Food Prize authorities and HarvestPlus Bangladesh said the four winners would receive the award at a ceremony to be held at the Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines, Iowa, USA, on October 13 this year.
The World Food Prize, created in 1986 by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Norman Borlaug, is the most prominent global award for individuals whose breakthrough achievements alleviate hunger and promote global food security. Last year's recipient was Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus also won the World Food Prize in 1994.
This year's $250,000 prize will be divided equally among the four recipients. The prize rewards their work in countering world hunger and malnutrition through biofortification, the process of breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops.
Over the last 25 years, Howarth Bouis, popularly known in scientific fraternity as Howdy, pioneered the implementation of a multi-institutional approach to biofortificatoin as a global plant breeding strategy.
Bouis recognised that what mattered was not just how many calories people get, but the nutritional value contained in their food. Today, more than 2 billion people -- one in three -- do not get enough essential vitamins and minerals. Undernutrition contributes to almost half of deaths in children under 5. More than one in three children under 5 is stunted in most parts of Africa and South Asia.
He pioneered promotion of biofortification as a process to breed critical vitamins and micronutrients directly into staple crops to improve their nutritional quality.
As a result of his leadership, crops such as rice, beans, wheat and pearl millet have been biologically fortified with iron and zinc and those along with Vitamin A-enriched cassava, maize and orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) are being tested or released in over 40 countries.
Maria Andrade, Robert Mwanga and Jan Low of the CIP, which has had sweet potato in its research mandate since 1988, are being honoured for their work developing the single most successful example of biofortification -- OFSP.
Thanks to the combined efforts of these four laureates, over 10 million people are now positively impacted by biofortified crops, with a potential of several hundred million more in the coming decades.
Under the support of HarvestPlus, Bangladesh has released since 2013 five zinc biofortified rice varieties -- four inbred varieties by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and one hybrid variety by the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University.
Of the 64 districts in Bangladesh, HarvestPlus in 2015 covered 58 districts, reaching 50,000 farm households in 350 upazilas, and in 2016, it expanded its operation in 64 districts covering around 5,00,000 farm households.
Currently, HarvestPlus is working with six government organisations, 25 NGOs, and two seed multiplier associations (300 companies).
Countries where crops have been released include: Bangladesh (zinc rice); the Democratic Republic of Congo (iron beans and Vitamin A cassava); India (iron pearl millet, zinc rice and zinc wheat); Nigeria (Vitamin A cassava and maize); Rwanda (iron beans); Uganda (Vitamin A OFSP and iron beans); Mozambique (Vitamin A OFSP); Zambia (Vitamin A maize), and Pakistan (zinc wheat).
HarvestPlus is part of a Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health run by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). CGIAR is a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.
http://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/four-get-world-food-prize-1247857

NFA: There is enough rice for the lean months

June 29, 2016 9:07 pm
by JAMES KONSTANTIN GALVEZ, REPORTER
The National Food Authority (NFA) on Wednesday assured Filipinos there is ample rice even if the government’s rice importation scheme for the lean months has been deferred.
In a statement, NFA Officer-in Charge Tomas Escarez said he has directed all field offices to monitor the supply and price situation in markets nationwide.
“We have more than enough stock of the good quality, low-priced NFA rice for the lean months,” Escarez noted.
As of June 15, the country has more than the 30-day buffer stock needed at the start of the lean months. Currently, the inventory is enough for 32 days.
“These stocks are now strategically prepositioned across the country, especially in calamity-vulnerable areas,” the NFA official said.
The lean season starts in July and ends in September. It is the time when the government imports rice to help stabilize retail prices.
Under the Food Staples Sufficiency Program, the country should have a 60-day inventory at any given time, and a 90-day buffer stock during lean months.
The state-run NFA alone is required by law to have at least a 15-day buffer stock in its depositories at any given time, and a 30-day buffer stock during lean months.
Escarez has instructed field offices to accredit more outlets for NFA rice so the supply may be more accessible to low-income residents anywhere in the country.
“Closer price monitoring and the opening of more rice outlets will ensure that our people will always have access to NFA rice,” Escarez said.
The country’s national rice inventory currently stands at 3.54 million metric tons (MT), to last for 110 days based on a national daily requirement of 32,560 MT. At least 1.02 million MT is with the NFA, 1.04 million MT is commercial rice, with 1.47 million MT in households.
NFA Spokesperson Angel Imperial said the grains agency has yet to receive the order on importation, particularly the mandated buffer stock by the government and use of the minimum access volume (MAV) by the private sector.
“… [T]he NFA administration has decided to let the new leadership to make the importation decision,” Imperial said, adding that the Philippines can afford to stall discussions on importation.
Talks about transferring the NFA back to the Department of Agriculture may also affect the negotiations on rice imports.
“At the… first week of July, we can expect a decision by the new leadership,” Imperial noted.
Prior to his resignation, former NFA Administrator Renan Dalisay said they have prepared all possible rice importation schemes for approval of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte

Govt Approves Rice Loans

The government has come to the rescue of rice millers and exporters, currently in the throes of a serious financial crisis, with loans of between $20 and $30 million to the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF). This is to help the sector purchase rice from farmers after the harvest this November, to store in warehouses and process them for export, said the CRF.Hun Lak, CRF vice president, told Khmer Times yesterday that he and key rice millers and exporters had met with economy and finance minister Aun Pornmonirath on Monday.In the meeting, Mr. Hun Lak said, important issues like an emergency budget to revive the rice sector following the severe drought that affected production, the flow of low-grade rice into the country from Vietnam, and high taxes imposed on rice millers were discussed.“The government agreed to make out the loans of between $20 and $30 million to CRF, with the foundation acting as a guarantor. The CRF in turn will screen all applicants and hand out the money to deserving rice millers and exporters,” he said.Mr. Hun Lak said the government would charge an interest rate of about seven to eight percent for the loans. “These loans would enable rice millers and exporters to purchase rice from farmers to store in their warehouses and later process them for export.”Mr. Hun Lak said the CRF had already formed a working group with representatives from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Rural Development Bank to process all the loan applications.
 
“We hope to complete all the formalities immediately after CRF’s annual general meeting on July 2,” he said.All CRF members have to submit their loan request forms if they want to apply for the grants. There will be a formula for vetting the applicants to ensure that the loans would be put to good use to revive their businesses,” added Mr. Lak.In March, rice millers and exporters wrote to the government urging intervention due to stiff competition in export markets as well as domestic ones. In the letter, they said they were facing a cash crunch due to a flood of low-grade rice from Vietnam while stressing that bankruptcy was widespread among farmers, millers and exporters alike.The letter said Vietnamese companies were snapping up high-quality Cambodian paddy for export from Vietnam and flooding the Cambodian market with low-grade rice. This, the letter said, was driving domestic millers out of the market.
 
To make matters worse, many millers, exporters and farmers are in financial doldrums due to the severe drought early this year that saw rice production fall drastically.Economy and Finance Minister Aun Pornmoniroth, stressed that Cambodia would not totally stop importing rice from neighboring countries. However, he said the government plans to reduce the export duty of milled rice
Image: Many millers, exporters and farmers are in financial doldrums due to the severe drought early this year that saw rice production fall drastically. KT/Chor Sokunthea

Paddy farmers ‘watching’ rain; sowing expected to pick up in coming days




Farmers in Punjab, Odisha, Haryana, Bengal, Chhattisgarh, await upturn in monsoon
New Delhi, June 27:  
Sowing of paddy in the country so far is significantly lower compared to the average sowing in the previous five years.
Farmers, not just in States that have received low rainfall, such as Odisha, Haryana, Assam, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, but also in Punjab, which received good ‘pre-monsoon’ rains last week, have adopted a ‘wait-and-watch’ approach.
On the bright side, rice sowing is likely to gather pace in the last week of June and early July, as “conditions are becoming favourable” for a further advance of the South-West monsoon after June 24, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.
Farm advisory
Some more parts of the north Arabian Sea and Gujarat, the remaining parts of west Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and most parts of Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Punjab and east Rajasthan are likely to get covered by the monsoon this week.
“Advisories are now being sent to farmers to undertake transplanting of rice seedlings and continue nursery sowing of rice in almost all major rice growing States, including Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh,” an Agriculture Ministry official told BusinessLine.
Farmers in coastal Karnataka and Kerala as well as Assam, which may get a short-spell of heavy rains, have been advised to provide for proper drainage in rice fields and drain out excess water from rice nursery/transplanted rice field and orchards to avoid water stagnation.
“The timing of sowing is very important as not just early sowing but late sowing could also spoil a crop as a deluge at the wrong time could harm the seed,” pointed out agriculture expert VN Saroja.
Lower acreage
Till June 24, lower area coverage under rice, compared to normal of corresponding week (average of 2011-12 to 2015-16), was reported from Punjab (8.08 lakh hectares shortfall), Odisha (2.09 lakh hectare shortfall), Chhattisgarh (1.59 lakh hectare shortfall), Haryana (1.26 lakh hectare shortfall), Assam (0.9 lakh hectare shortfall), Kerala (0.26 lakh hectare shortfall), Uttarakhand (0.12 lakh hectare shortfall), Bihar (0.10 lakh hectare shortfall), Telangana (0.09 lakh hectare shortfall), Andhra Pradesh (0.08 lakh hectare shortfall), West Bengal (0.06 lakh hectare shortfall), Tripura (0.06 lakh hectare shortfall), Rajasthan (0.05 lakh hectare shortfall), Sikkim (0.02 lakh hectare shortfall) and Mizoram (0.01 lakh hectare shortfall).
Plentiful rain is vital for a good rice crop as cereal — the staple food for people in Eastern and Southern India — is very heavily monsoon-dependent in the country.
India is the second largest producer of the crop (annual production of about 105 million tonnes), which is mostly grown in the kharif season, and accounts for over a fourth of total world production.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/paddy-farmers-watching-rain-sowing-expected-to-pick-up-in-coming-days/article8780118.ece

APEDA AgriExchange Newsletter - Volume 1505






Market Watch









Commodity-wise, Market-wise Daily Price on 28-06-2016






Domestic Prices
Unit Price : Rs per Qty

Product
Market Center
Variety
Min Price
Max Price

Maize





1
Haveri (Karnataka)
Local
1690
1750

2
Dahod (Gujarat)
Yellow
1700
1750

3
Sangli (Maharashtra)
Other
1850
1900

Paddy(Dhan)





1
Sanad (Gujarat)
Other
1450
2860

2
Kasargod (Kerala)
Other
1500
1600

3
Attabira (Orissa)
Other
1410
1450

Papaya





1
Jagraon (Punjab)
Other
2300
2700

2
Jalore (Rajasthan)
Other
1500
1700

3
Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh)
Other
1230
1270

Onion





1
Bargarh (Orissa)
Other
1500
1700

2
Giridih (Jharkhand)
Other
1200
1500

3
Siliguri (West Bengal)
Other
1600
1800







06/29/2016 Farm Bureau Market Report














Soybeans

High
Low
Cash Bids
1182
1090
New Crop
1148
1075


Riceland Foods


Cash Bids
Stuttgart: - - -
Pendleton: - - -
New Crop
Stuttgart: - - -
Pendleton: - - -


Futures:

SOYBEANS


High
Low
Last
Change





Jul '16
1155.75
1140.00
1144.50
-6.00
Aug '16
1151.75
1136.50
1140.50
-5.75
Sep '16
1134.75
1119.50
1123.00
-7.25
Nov '16
1125.50
1108.00
1112.50
-7.75
Jan '17
1121.00
1104.25
1108.50
-8.25
Mar '17
1082.50
1069.50
1073.50
-7.25
May '17
1067.75
1056.00
1059.50
-8.00
Jul '17
1068.00
1053.75
1058.25
-8.00
Aug '17


1042.00
-7.25



Soybean Comment

Soybeans gave back some of the gains from earlier in the week. Tomorrow will be a big day for soybeans as the market will get three USDA Reports: Acreage, Quarterly Stocks, and Exports sales. While the trade expects higher acreage tommorow, the trade will also be closely watching stocks and exports to see if demand continues to remain robust.


Wheat

High
Low
Cash Bids
455
388
New Crop
454
423


Futures:

WHEAT


High
Low
Last
Change





Jul '16
447.25
428.50
429.50
-14.25
Sep '16
460.50
443.75
444.50
-12.75
Dec '16
480.50
464.75
465.25
-11.75
Mar '17
498.00
484.00
484.25
-10.50
May '17
507.00
494.50
494.75
-9.25
Jul '17
513.75
502.25
502.50
-8.50
Sep '17
515.75
511.50
511.75
-7.50
Dec '17
535.75
526.25
526.50
-6.50
Mar '18
544.00
540.00
540.00
-5.50



Wheat Comment

Wheat closed lower today posting new contract lows. Weakness in outside markets continues to pressure prices. Additionally, the market is bracing for bearish demand report tomorrow as stocks report may come in close to 1 billion bu. This combined with the improving yield forecast is adding additional pressure to the market.


Grain Sorghum

High
Low
Cash Bids
385
262
New Crop
360
266





Corn

High
Low
Cash Bids
407
355
New Crop
406
359


Futures:

CORN


High
Low
Last
Change





Jul '16
387.25
372.25
372.75
-12.50
Sep '16
390.75
377.25
377.75
-11.00
Dec '16
396.25
382.50
383.00
-11.25
Mar '17
402.75
390.00
390.25
-10.50
May '17
406.25
394.00
394.25
-10.25
Jul '17
409.75
397.00
397.50
-10.75
Sep '17
391.00
382.25
382.25
-8.25
Dec '17
395.75
386.00
386.50
-6.50
Mar '18
400.00
393.25
394.00
-6.25



Corn Comment

Corn prices closed lower as the market remains cautious ahead of tomorrow's USDA report. As weather forecast improves the market remains concerned about large supplies this year. While tomorrow's report is expected to show acreage down slightly, the trade also expects large stocks. While acreage is a major concern, tomorrow stock number could give more direction near term to prices.


Cotton
Futures:

COTTON


High
Low
Last
Change





Jul '16
64.76
64.76
64.5
-0.16
Oct '16
66.65
66.1
66.22
0.08
Dec '16
66.31
65.57
65.85
-0.01


s

Cotton Comment

Cotton futures ended mixed. December posted gains early but ran out of steam as traders were unwilling to move the market much ahead of tomorrow's supply/demand report. The market will have resistance at 66.64 cents. The short-term trend looks more sideways, but the uptrend drawn off the February low remains intact, with support currently around 63.36 cents. Better exports last week gave the market a boost Thursday, thanks to some weakness in the dollar. Weekly export sales of 178,100 running bales boosted 15-16 commitments to 9.137 million bales.


Rice

High
Low
Long Grain Cash Bids
- - -
- - -
Long Grain New Crop
- - -
- - -


Futures:

ROUGH RICE


High
Low
Last
Change





Jul '16
1081.0
1062.0
1064.5
-3.0
Sep '16
1107.5
1087.5
1090.0
-3.5
Nov '16
1133.0
1118.0
1118.5
-3.0
Jan '17


1142.0
-1.5
Mar '17


1162.5
-2.0
May '17


1181.5
-2.0
Jul '17


1195.5
-2.0

Rice Comment

Rice futures were lower across the board. Tomorrow's USDA report is expected to show a large acreage. Crop conditions remain generally favorable, with 68% of the crop rated good to excellent for the second week in a row. July's close below $10.75 is worrisome, as there is little technical support above the recent low of $9.70. The market needs to see better export movement to generate buying interest. Net sales last week totaled 50,100 tons for the 15-16 marketing year cancellations resulted in -100 tons for 2016-2017 delivery.


Cattle
Futures:

Live Cattle:

LIVE CATTLE


High
Low
Last
Change





Jun '16
119.000
117.200
118.900
+1.825
Aug '16
114.300
113.025
114.125
+1.400
Oct '16
114.225
113.325
113.950
+0.900
Dec '16
114.750
114.100
114.375
+0.475
Feb '17
114.275
113.600
113.800
+0.375
Apr '17
113.300
112.725
113.000
+0.450
Jun '17
107.325
106.850
107.025
+0.250
Aug '17
106.200
105.525
105.775
+0.325

Feeders:

FEEDER CATTLE


High
Low
Last
Change





Aug '16
144.350
141.000
143.050
+2.375
Sep '16
142.650
140.050
142.050
+2.325
Oct '16
140.750
138.400
140.450
+2.200
Nov '16
137.950
135.925
137.800
+2.100
Jan '17
133.700
131.925
133.475
+1.925
Mar '17
130.250
129.100
130.250
+1.525
Apr '17
129.800
129.100
129.800
+1.450
May '17
128.500
128.500
128.500
+1.075





Cattle Comment

Cattle prices closed higher again today, as the cash market continues to improve. This combined with lower corn prices is helping support cattle prices despite lower beef prices.


Hogs
Futures:

LEAN HOGS


High
Low
Last
Change





Jul '16
83.550
82.850
83.100
-0.050
Aug '16
84.375
83.050
83.325
-0.650
Oct '16
72.225
71.325
71.650
-0.375
Dec '16
64.250
63.650
64.025
-0.225
Feb '17
67.200
66.750
67.125
-0.100
Apr '17
70.975
70.625
70.800
-0.425
May '17


75.375
-0.200
Jun '17
78.900
78.600
78.850
+0.050
Jul '17
78.925
78.800
78.800
+0.225