PCA loses
appeal on wild rice sulfate rule
Wild rice harvested on Perch Lake on the Fond du Lac Reservation
gleams in the sunlight. (News Tribune file photo)
Minnesota's chief administrative law judge has backed an earlier
ruling and decided against the Pollution Control Agency on the proposed new
rule for sulfate pollution limits for lakes and rivers that hold wild rice.The
PCA in late March appealed the January decision by Judge LauraSue Schlatter,
who said the PCA's proposed new sulfate rule failed to meet the definition of a
state rule and failed to meet the federal Clean Water Act. Schlatter also said
the PCA didn't properly consider concerns raised by tribal groups.
But Chief Administrative Law Judge Tammy Pust has ruled that
Schlatter's decision disapproving the PCA sulfate standard was correct. In a
16-page response to the PCA filed Thursday, Pust said the sulfate rule
"remains disapproved,'' and that the PCA has not corrected the defects
raised by Schlatter's original decision.
A PCA spokesman Monday said the agency was aware of Pust's
decision but had no comment.
The PCA has proposed ending a decades-old standard of
10-parts-per-million for all sulfate pollution into wild rice lakes and rivers.
Instead, the agency wants to replace it with a sulfate limit based on the
chemistry of each waterway.
Schlatter ruled against repealing the existing statewide
10-parts-per-million limit due to the PCA's "failure to establish the
reasonableness of the repeal, and because the repeal conflicts" with the
federal Clean Water Act. She said the PCA plan to develop
"equation-based" limits for specific lakes and rivers that hold wild
rice "fails to meet the definition of a rule" under state law
"and is unconstitutionally void for vagueness."
Schlatter also rejected the PCA's preliminary list of 1,300
lakes and rivers where the agency believes viable wild rice stands exist,
places where the new rules would have applied, because the list itself violated
federal law.
In filing their appeal in March, PCA officials said the judge
simply erred in applying the Clean Water Act, noting that using equations to
determine limits is a common practice in rulemaking for pollution standards.
"We think the law judge misread the Clean Water Act," said John Linc
Stine, PCA commissioner, at the time the appeal was announced.
Industry groups have panned the PCA prospal as too strict.
Environmental groups say it doesn't protect wild rice enough.
It's not clear what the PCA's next move is. The agency could
either rework the proposed sulfate rule to satisfy the administrative law
judge's concerns or bypass the administrative law judge decision and take the
issue to the state Legislative Coordinating Commission.
But, already, some state lawmakers have sought to stop the
agency from enforcing any new rule as well as eliminate the old sulfate rule,
saying they are too costly and could cripple the state's taconite iron ore
industry as well as cost some water treatment plants millions of dollars to
comply with.
Scientists have found that sulfate — which can come from sewage
effluent, mine discharges and other industrial processes — is converted to
sulfides in the sediment of many wild rice lakes and rivers. The rate of that
conversion changes depending on the amount of carbon and iron in the water
(generally, more sulfides with high carbon, fewer sulfides with high iron).
It's those sulfides that harm wild rice in some areas; the proposed new rule
would study the water chemistry of each wild rice lake and river to determine
what sulfate pollution level they could handle and still grow wild rice.
The PCA says about 135 facilities are within 25 miles upstream
of wild rice waters and would be the most likely ones affected by any sulfate
rule enforcement.
https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4432616-pca-loses-appeal-wild-rice-sulfate-rule
10,000 bags of rice delivered to MManila
THE rice supply got a much-needed boost as some 10,000 bags of
regular milled rice, to be sold at P39 per kilo, were delivered to Metro Manila
by traders on Monday.
A total of 17 cargo trucks of grain, each with 400 to 800 bags of
rice from Nueva Ecija province, were delivered to the National Food Authority
(NFA) warehouse in Quezon City.
Victor del Rosario, president of the Nueva Ecija Rice Millers
Association, said areas that were running low on supply of
government-subsidized rice would be prioritized for delivery.
The government is moving to ensure enough supply of affordable rice
after the NFA said its buffer was running short. The traders will continue to
supply rice until grains to be imported by the NFA to ease the shortage becomes
available.
Del Rosario said this was the Nueva Ecija Rice Millers’
Associations’ promise to President Rodrigo Duterte – for them to lead the
selling of cheap commercial rice to prove that they were the new rice granary
of the country.
“Our commitment to our President has arrived here in Metro Manila.
Retailers will sell this for P39 a kilo. We thank God today for the blessing he
has given the Nueva Ecija Rice Millers Associations that paved the way for us
to provide Metro Manila with rice to sell at P39 per kilo,” Amelito Coronel,
president of the Nueva Ecija Rice Millers Association, told reporters in
Filipino.
Several pilot service outlets have started selling the low-priced
commercial rice in Quezon City markets. Outlets will also open at Commonwealth
Avenue, Litex, Silangan, Payatas and Tondo Talipapa.
All other markets in Metro Manila will sell the same variety and
at the same price starting on April 18.
Aside from Nueva Ecija, Bulacan and Isabela were also committed to
deliver 100,000 sacks of rice each for a total of 300,000 sacks.
Grains Retailers Associations of the Philippines, Inc. president
James Magbanua said rice traders might limit sale of rice to 3 kilograms per
customer to stretch supplies.
The NFA’s importation of 250,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam
and Thailand is expected to arrive in May through the ports in Cebu, Davao and Manila.
“The NFA is finalizing the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the
immediate importation of 250,000 metric tons of rice approved by President
Duterte to bring back the P27 and P32 a kilo NFA rice into the markets
nationwide,” the grains agency said.
Buffer stock of rice is kept in the NFA warehouse to ensure ample
supply and to make sure that there will be no spike in prices.
The NFA is mandated to have a buffer stock of 15 days during
regular months, and 30 days during lean months.
Also on Monday, a lawmaker urged President Duterte to donate the
confiscated 1,395 metric tons of rice off the coast of Zamboanga Sibugay to the
NFA.
Rep. Orestes Salon of Agri party-list made the call after Naval
Task Force 61 of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao seized a foreign cargo
vessel loaded with 27,180 sacks or of rice or 1,359 metric tons of rice from
Vietnam.
Basmati Rice Market Overview, Industry Top Manufactures, Market
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types & applications. Basmati Rice Market report evaluates key factors that
affected market growth and with the help of previous figures, this report
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2023.
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displays the Production, Consumption, revenue, Gross
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India, Japan and other regions, and forecast to 2023, from 2018.
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Introduction to
Basmati Rice Industry
·
Overview of Basmati
Rice Industry
·
Basmati Rice Industry
Development Factors Analysis
·
Imports and Exports
Market Analysis
·
Basmati Rice Market
forecasts from 2018-2023, including market
volumes, Value ($), Consumption is provided by regions, by types, and by
applications.
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On the basis of Product, Basmati Rice market report displays the production, revenue,
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On the basis on the end
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status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share
and growth rate for each application, including: Direct
Edible, Deep Processing.
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by top manufacturers/players, with
Basmati Rice sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market
share for each manufacturer/player; the top players including: Krbl
Limited, Amira Nature Foods, Lt Foods, Best Foods, Kohinoor Rice, Aeroplane
Rice, Tilda Basmati Rice, Matco Foods, Amar Singh Chawal Wala, Hanuman Rice
Mills, Adani Wilmar, Has Rice Pakistan, Galaxy Rice Mill, Dunar Foods, Sungold.
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research analysis, the buyer also gets valuable information about global
Basmati Rice Production and its market share, Revenue,
Price and Gross Margin, Supply, Consumption, Export, import volume and
values for following Regions:
·
USA
·
Europe
·
Japan
·
China
·
India
·
Southeast Asia
·
South America
·
South Africa
·
Others
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Basmati Rice Industry Overview:
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Basmati Rice Competitions by Players: Basmati
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Buhari should demand better performance from Customs
File: Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service,
Col. Hameed Ali (retd.), displaying some of the seized 661 Pump-Action rifles
in Lagos. Photo: NAN
WITHIN the last three years, six million
people have embraced rice farming to increase the number to 11 million, thereby
leading to over 90 per cent drop in the product’s import. This revolutionary
turnaround should be protected if the current effort to escape from the rice
trap is to become irreversible.
Rice, a staple in every home, drained
Nigeria’s foreign reserves to the tune of $1.65 billion annually, until
September 2017, says the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed. The
country had up to September 2015 been importing 644,131 metric tons annually
from Thailand, as against the current 20,000 metric tons.
However, this gain is being threatened by
our neighbours, especially Cameroon and Benin Republic, with their zero and
five per cent tariffs respectively on imported rice. The minister lamented last
week that these tariff regimes exposed Nigeria to a flood of smuggled rice.
In graphic terms, he painted the picture in
Benin thus, “The total demand for white rice is 400,000 metric tons. Yet, the
country with a population of about 11 million, imports between one million and
1.2 million metric tons annually.” This means that over 600,000 metric tons of
the rice ends up in the Nigerian market. A bag of this rice costs between
N11,000 and N13, 000, as against Nigeria’s parboiled variety sold at N14,500 or
N15,000 per 50kg bag. Under attack is not only the price, but millions of
direct and indirect jobs the rice revolution has generated and the over N250
billion investment in the sector.
Smuggling thrives in an environment of
inadequate legal framework and ineffective enforcement. Fighting this menace
will need to go beyond the public enlightenment the ministry envisages to
highlight the inherent health hazards in eating smuggled rice. Experts say much
of the imported rice had been in silos of the countries of origin as strategic grains
reserves for about nine years, only to be pushed to foreign markets as they
were about to expire.
An effective antidote will require a strong
policy response from the Federal Government and the Nigeria Customs Service.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, should come up with
extraordinary measures on border patrol to fatally crush the rice smuggling
syndicates. The borders are too porous; and matters are worsened by corruption
of customs officials. Trans-border customs cooperation needs to be pursued.
The investors, who had hearkened to the
Federal Government’s advice to hug rice farming, recently expressed concern
about the safety of their huge investments. The Managing Director of Agro
Nigeria, an indigenous coalition, Richard-Mark Mbaram, said recently that the
degree of the threat from Cameroon, Benin and Niger, could only be contained by
a declaration of economic war. Without equivocation, Mbaram said, “So, Nigeria
needs to take definite and radical measures. There’s no point playing the big
brother on issues like this anymore. It is about our life as a nation.” Nothing
could be more forthright.
In retrospect, Nigeria had taken similar
action in 2003 when it shut its border with Benin Republic because of
unremitting cross-border banditry and smuggling led by a notorious car
snatcher, Amani Tijani. This compelled Beninoise authorities to swing into
action. The underworld kingpin was arrested and handed over to Nigerian
authorities for trial.
Ongoing trade disputes between the United
States and China show that countries do not fold their arms when their
economies are being threatened. A few days after the US released a list of
1,300 Chinese goods to attract higher tariffs, totalling about $50 billion,
China swiftly responded with counter-measures: 128 US products are to attract
25 per cent tariff hike. The US has a trade deficit of $375 billion, and
President Donald Trump wants a cut of about $100 billion from this imbalance.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who bemoaned the
country’s 2.6 million metric tons of rice production annually, as against the
estimated 6.1 million metric tons, when he launched the dry season farming and
the Central Bank of Nigeria Anchor Borrower Programme in November 2015, should
learn from the 2003 tough message to Benin and US-China trade war and act
decisively.
Massive rice production is the most
successful outcome from the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan document
aggressively aided by the CBN scheme. Under the policy, farm inputs and cash
are given to small-holders farmers to boost the exponential production in paddy
rice, which the minister said had spiked from four million metric tons to seven
million metric tons in the past three years.
Besides, corporate giants such as Dangote
Group and Coscharis, among others, have stepped in. For instance, in 2016, the
Dangote Group launched its Dangote Rice Out-growers Scheme in Jigawa State.
This started with 200,000 hectares that involved 5,000 farmers who received
treated rice seedling to expand to 800,000 hectares within three years. Host
communities are to benefit more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs from the
project.
Conscious of the reality that rice is a
product with a ready market, of which Nigeria is the biggest in Africa, all
states are now competing in rice production. A survey conducted by the Ahmadu
Bello University, Zaria, in conjunction with the Agricultural Development
Projects and Federal Department of Agricultural Extension, showed that Niger
State led in rice production in 2017 with 545,700 metric tons, Kogi was second
with 512,610 metric tons and Benue ranked third with 486,620 metric tons.
The dent on our rice import bill is already
being felt by Thailand rice farmers, who have visited Nigeria, seeking the
approval of the authorities to start rice milling here. Caution is needed here.
The value chains from rice farming – processing, storage, logistics, jobs,
wealth creation and foreign exchange conservation among others – are so huge to
be trifled with or traded off. Act now, Buhari.
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PHILIPPINES'
DUTERTE ORDERS STATE FOOD AGENCY TO BOOST RICE RESERVES
4/16/2018
MANILA, April 17 (Reuters) -
Philippine President RodrigoDuterte has directed the country's food security
agency to buildup its rice buffer stock to the equivalent of 60 days ofnational
consumption, by buying more locally-produced grains andimported varieties, the
agriculture minister said on Tuesday.A 60-day buffer stock would be equivalent
to a reserve of asmuch as 1.92 million tonnes. The National Food Authority
(NFA),the agency in charge of ensuring stable rice supply, had aninventory of
only 43,500 tonnes, or less than 2 days of national
consumption, as of last month.The NFA is under increasing pressure to beef up its riceinventory, which has been almost depleted in the absence of
fresh purchases.
consumption, as of last month.The NFA is under increasing pressure to beef up its riceinventory, which has been almost depleted in the absence of
fresh purchases.
The Philippines, a frequent rice
importer, saw domestic prices
of the staple grain increase in recent weeks as the NFAcould not provide the
local market with cheap rice.Higher rice prices added pressure to Philippine
inflation,which quickened to an annual pace of 4.3 percent in March, thefastest
in at least five years.
"Buy from the Filipino farmers
first and if you could notfind sufficient stocks to be bought at the price
approved by theNFA Council, that's the time you source it through
importation,"Duterte told NFA management on Monday night, according
toAgriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.
In a meeting with the NFA Council,
Duterte also directedFinance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to help provide funds
forNFA's local rice procurement program, saying he would like theagency's
warehouses "filled to the roof" to ensure sufficientsupply, Piñol
said.
The council, composed of government
economic managers, hasapproved the purchase by NFA of 250,000 tonnes via a
tender opento international traders and suppliers, for delivery startingMay,
ahead of the lean domestic harvest season from July.
The NFA is also set to buy another
250,000-tonne volume in agovernment-to-government deal with Vietnam or
Thailand, fordelivery starting next month.
Duterte has also directed the NFA
to increase its buyingprice for local rice so it could rack up its needed
bufferstocks, Piñol said in a statement posted on his Facebookaccount.
(Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Editing by Sunil Nair)
(Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Editing by Sunil Nair)
https://www.agriculture.com/markets/newswire/philippines-duterte-orders-state-food-agency-to-boost-rice-reserves
NFA Council castrated: Execom formed to
handle rice imports
Last updated Apr 17, 2018
The National Food Authority (NFA)
Council has become a weak body with the creation of an Executive Council
Committee (Execom) that will be in charge of auctioning permits for rice
importation, Politiko has learned.Politiko’s source said the decision to create
an executive committee was reached during President Rodrigo Duterte’s meeting
with select Cabinet Secretaries and high ranking government officials Monday
night (April 16).The executive committee will be led by Agriculture
Undersecretary Berna Romulo Puyat. Its other members will come from the Office
of the President, NFA and Department of Finance.
Politiko’s source said the Execom was created to ensure there
will be no corruption in rice importation.All import permits for rice will be
auctioned off so it’s useless for interested parties to approach government
officials to bag the contracts.
The bidder which offers the
highest service fee wins the import permit.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said
Duterte has approved the government-to-government importation of 250,000 metric
tons of rice but subsequent importation will be done through government to
private sector.
