2nd february ,2018 daily global regional local rice e newsletter

DailyDRice E-Newsletter G L E aily

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lobal, Regional and

ocal Rice

-Newsletter February 02, 2018

Rice export surges 74.2 percent in January HOMEF raises concern over companies allegedly importing GMO foods More rice, please: 13 rice genomes reveal ways to keep up with evergrowing population Fish in the Fields May Reduce Methane Emissions Debate on rice strategy continues Madagascar Supply and Market Outlook, January 2018 Dependence on foreign farm goods spinning out of control Flouting Promise: Local Importers Marginalized - Pres. Weah Forges Partnership With Foreign Rice Importers Why approved Chinese-developed GMO rice that boosts yields, reduces pesticide use not available to country's farmers, consumers Bangladesh to scrap rice imports from Thailand USA Rice Participates in Cancer Prevention Month Pres. Weah Meets Rice Importers - Targets Reduction in Price of Staple Food Nigerian govt bans Customs from seizing rice in markets Hoarding: A catalyst for the rice crisis Debate on rice strategy continues India Expects Rise in Basmati Exports as Iran Resumes Rice Imports China’s rice, soybean imports top the world in 2017 Commodities Buzz: Chinas Rice Plantation To Down 2.2 In 2017 Consumers to gain from new rice policy NFA-Bohol rice stocks dip due to late boat Rice storage facilities ready next month Bangladesh to scrap planned rice imports from Thailand Rice production in Ukraine will increase Indian rice prices surge to over six-year high on steady demand, strong rupee Thai rice export to fall this year India Expects Rise in Basmati Exports as Iran Resumes Rice Imports Sokoto has good climate for rice farming — Expert FG approves ₦1.1bn for Anti-Rice Smuggling Vehicles Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- February 02, 2018 Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- February 01, 2018

Volume X | Issue I

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter News Detail‌ Rice export surges 74.2 percent in January VNA FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 02, 2018 - 9:10:00

Hanoi (VNA) – An estimated 524,000 tonnes of rice was exported in January, bringing home 249 million USD, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The figures represented rises of 56.5 percent in volume and 74.2 percent in value as compared with the same month in 2017.

A sudden rise in rice export price from 390-395 USD per tonne to 420-430 USD per tonne was attributed to the growing export value of rice in the month.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Rice exporters said the price hike is due to prospects of deals with the Philippines and Indonesia as the two Southeast Asian countries, which are Vietnam’s traditional rice importers, have plans to import a large volume of rice.

The Ministry of Trade of Indonesia has recently approved the import of 500,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand and Vietnam to fix the insufficient rice supply and price hike in the domestic market. The Indonesia Logistics Bureau (BULOG) said that the country only had 950,000 tonnes in stockpile.

Earlier, the National Food Authority of the Philippines also agreed to import 250,000 tonnes of rice and planned to open rice purchase bidding right in January. The country’s rice stock is enough for use in only three days while the minimum amount must satisfy demand for 15 days.

The country shipped abroad about 5.89 million tonnes of rice worth 2.66 billion USD in 2017, a year-onyear increases of 22.4 percent in quality and 23.2 percent in value, the ministry said.

Vietnamese rice is now exported to over 130 markets. However, experts are still calling for quality to be improved, to enhance competitiveness.

In October, the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced its rice export strategy for the 2017 to 2020 period, which aims to decrease export volume but increase value.

Accordingly, the country’s average rice export volume was set at 4.5 to 5 million tonnes per year to 2020, at an average value of 2.2 to 2.3 billion USD. Between 2021 and 2030, Vietnam plans to export 4 million tonnes per year on average, worth around 2.3 USD to 2.5 billion USD. -VNA https://en.vietnamplus.vn/rice-export-surges-742-percent-in-january/125972.vnp

HOMEF raises concern over companies allegedly importing GMO foods ON FEBRUARY 1, 20189:49 PMI

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter N NEWSCOMMENTS By Gabriel Ewepu ABUJATHE Health for Mother Health Foundation, HOMEF, has raised concern over some companies allegedly importing Genetically Modified Organisms, GMO, foods into the country. The concern was raised by the Director, HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, while speaking on the necessity of reviewing the National Biosafety Act, for protection of the lives of Nigerians and the agriculture sector. Bassey who expressed dismay over the manner in which the illegally and unauthorized importation of genetically modified maize worth about $9.8 million that was impounded at Lagos sea ports from Argentina, the country of origin was handled.

According to him barely a week after the NBMA announced that together with the Nigerian Customs Service they would ensure the repatriation of the illegal GM maize, the same NBMA issued a public advertisement announcing the application for importation of GM maize by WACOT Ltd, described it as mere noise and hope dashing.

He also alleged that the purported application of WACOT Ltd has since been approved by NBMA and the applicant may have received the green light to take delivery of the impounded illegal import and to further import genetically modified maize at will into Nigeria over the next three years. He said: “One of the cases with grave implications for biosafety administration in Nigeria is the one that hit headline news in October 2017 that unauthorised genetically modified maize worth about $9.8 million had been impounded at Lagos sea ports. “Nigerians were elated by the vigilance of the regulatory agency and officers of the Nigerian Customs Service to intercept the illegal imports by WACOT Ltd – a firm that is best known for dealing in cotton and rice. “Another company implicated in the illegal importation of the GM maize is the Olam Group, a conglomerate that deals mostly in rice, including the widely sold Mama’s Pride brand. ” However, he called on the National Biosafety Management Agency, NBMA, to step up and protect the lives of the people based on their mandate, as there have been biosafety infringements especially by some companies importing GM foods into the country. According to the HOMEF boss, the Director General, NBMA, stated at a press conference held in Abuja on September 13, 2017 that the Agency got notice of the importation through an intelligence report and had set in motion necessary machineries to track the importers and bring them to book. He also quoted that according to the NBMA Act 2015, ‘Any person, institution or body who wishes to import, export, transit or otherwise carry out a contained field trial, multi-locational trial or commercial release of genetically modified organism shall apply to the Director General of the Agency not less than 270 days to the date of import, export, transit or the commencement of such activity’.

“Barely a week after the NBMA announced that together with the Nigerian Customs Service they would ensure the repatriation of the illegal GM maize, the same NBMA issued a public advertisement announcing the application for importation of GM maize by WACOT Ltd. “Some of us have on many occasions called for a radical review of the NBMA Act 2015. We have also made a clause-by-clause analysis of the Act and suggested needed changes”, he stated.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/02/homef-raises-concern-companies-allegedly-importing-gmo-foods/

More rice, please: 13 rice genomes reveal ways to keep up with ever-growing population February 1, 2018, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Top: Geographic distribution of 13 rice varieties compared in the new study by Ware and colleagues.

Dashed red lin shows limits of rice cultivation. Bottom: A tree showing the evolutionary relationship of 13 rice varieties compared in the ‌more

Billions of people around the world rely on rice as a mainstay of their diet. The grain provides about 20 percent of the calories consumed by humans worldwide. Rice production is critical for global food security, and demand will only grow as the world's population expands by an estimated 2-3 billion by 2050. To keep up, farmers will need new strains of rice that can be grown both efficiently and sustainably, in new environments and in a changing climate.

A vast new genetic resource created by a team led by Doreen Ware, Ph.D., of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will accelerate efforts to develop new rice varieties, guiding breeders to the genes plants use to resist pests, thrive in inhospitable environments, and produce abundant amounts of grain.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter In research led by Dr. Rod Wing, a plant scientist at the University of Arizona, and Dr. Joshua Stein, manager of scientific informatics at CSHL, an international consortium of scientists sequenced the genomes of seven wild species of rice and two domesticated cultivars: a droughttolerant variety called Nagina 22, and IR8, so-called "miracle rice," a high-yield variety developed in 1967 and pivotal in the Green Revolution that helped relieve famine in Asia.

Comparing these nine new rice genome sequences to four previously available wild rice genomes, the team has generated a telling new view into the plant's 15-million-year evolutionary history.

Because the newly created genetic resource is so broad, representing distantly related rice species that have evolved in habitats throughout Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia, it enables researchers to zero-in on valuable sequences that have been preserved as the plants adapted to different growing conditions. "We're able to look at these wild species, which have been exposed to different diseases or other challenges. In some cases, these plants have been able to adapt to those challenges and we can see footprints of that in the genome," explains Ware, a CSHL Adjunct Associate Professor.

In a report published January 22, 2018 as part of a cover story in Nature Genetics, the team highlights one set of valuable tools uncovered in their analysis: thousands of genes that appear to encode disease resistance. Harnessing these genes to develop crops that are better equipped to resist infection by fungi, bacteria, and other pathogens could reduce the need for pesticides and help ensure more reliable rice harvests around the world.

Stein says the information embedded in the newly available genomes will accelerate the development of improved rice strainsthrough traditional breeding practices as well as with the aid of new genetic technologies. The team's comparative analysis also offers scientists new clues into the molecular mechanisms that drive the evolution of new traits, of potential value to breeders.

Explore further: Ancient rice heralds a new future for rice production More information: Joshua C. Stein et al. Genomes of 13 domesticated and wild rice relatives highlight genetic conservation, turnover and innovation across the genus Oryza, Nature Genetics (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41588-018-0040-0

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-rice-genomes-reveal-ways-ever-growing.html

Fish in the Fields May Reduce Methane Emissions FEBRUARY 1, 2018 FIELD & ROW CROPS, INDUSTRY

The Resource Renewal Institute (RRI) is moving into the second phase of its Fish in the Fields control study evaluating the introduction of fish in rice fields with a goal of reducing methane emissions from rice production. The institute has been working on strategies to address environmental issues for over 30 years.

Six years of research have shown that fallow rice fields allow for the rapid growth of small, freshwater forage fish. Initial results indicate that modernizing the longstanding and simple practice of raising fish in rice fields can result in significant benefits on a global scale. Along with reducing overall methane emissions, the practice would also support more sustainable and profitable agricultural practices, along with providing another source of protein for an expanding population.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter On February 1, a group of scientists from the University of Montana and UC Davis introduced Golden Shiner minnows into trial rice field ponds near Marysville. The team will be measuring what kind of effect the small fish have on nutrient levels as well as methane emissions in the fields. Samples that were taken from flooded rice fields over the past two months verify an abundance of zooplankton, a significant source of protein for fish.The Fish in the Fields research could prove to be extremely valuable as California continues to focus on and regulate methane emissions. RRI believes that adopting the methods being tested could potentially reduce methane emissions from rice by 90 percent. For California growers, employing the program could provide a secondary crop and income with minor costs for implementation.

Rice is a staple in the diet of over half of the global population, which continues to grow. According to RRI, methane emissions from rice cultivation around the world is responsible for nearly two percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers with RRI are hopeful that the Fish in the Fields production methods will be adopted on a global scale.

http://agnetwest.com/fish-in-the-fields-reduce-methane-emissions/

Debate on rice strategy continues By: Karl R. Ocampo- @inquirerdotnet Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:28 AM February 02, 2018

(Conclusion) Contrary to the administration’s action plan and recommendations from economists, industry group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) wants the country to reach its decade-old dream of rice self-sufficiency and stop relying on imports.

The group maintained that if the government would subsidize rice farmers in the production to marketing stage, raise the National Food Authority’s (NFA) farmgate support price for palay and incentivize local rice millers to modernize operations, producing our own staple would be more beneficial for the country in the long run.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter It cited data from the latest report of the United States Department of Agriculture where it noted that less than 10 percent of global rice production was tradeable, with 66 percent already allotted to China.

“Shortage may happen with limited supply of rice going around the market,” the group said. “The greatest tragedy of our times is the destruction of our capacity to produce our own staples.”

Food security But for former Economic Planning Secretary Cielito Habito, food security does not equate to rice self-sufficiency.

“The most unfortunate irony of all is that under current circumstances, the more we pursue 100-percent rice self-sufficiency, the more we make most Filipinos foodinsecure. Food security and food self-sufficiency are two different things. Food security denotes reliable access to adequate, affordable, safe and nutritious food. Our selfsufficiency policy has had the perhaps unwitting effect of making rice much more expensive to Filipino consumers than it needs to be, with the Filipino poor suffering the most,” he said.

Habito emphasized the need for the present administration to help farmers diversify their produce accordingly by choosing crops that are more suitable to their lands, and stop chasing the elusive goal of rice self-sufficiency, which, over the years, has been proven to be unsuccessful despite numerous government interventions.

Historically, rice has taken the lion’s share of the agriculture budget. For 2018, the agency will continue advocating the use of hybrid rice seeds, and loan and insurance programs are expected to cater mostly to rice crops.

“Our marginal rice farmers should be assisted to shift to other more remunerative crops suitable for their lands. Meanwhile, utmost productivity support must be given to our

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter rice lands that are inherently competitive in rice, including in Central Luzon and Western Visayas,” said Habito.

Economist and Ateneo professor Leonardo Lanzona Jr. agreed, emphasizing that the country must now move away from prioritizing the production of the staple.

“It would be better to use funds that we have for producing high-value crops or improving technology. Ever if we move some of the rice producers to planting highvalue crops, our growth would continue to increase. But, of course, we need to have some agricultural development program,” he said.

“Lifting the QR will benefit the public in general, but there should be a social protection for farmers. Subsidize to a limited extent, but what is more important is to give them incentives to look for other options,” he added.

Lanzona said that the shift to other crops from rice would not mean neglecting the agriculture sector. For him, the farm sector must be developed toward a direction where the Philippines might have a comparative advantage against other countries. “Right now, we don’t have a comparative advantage on rice anymore.”

Both economists said they believed that food security should be best pursued at the regional level, and this is where Asean plays a crucial role.

“Asean as a region is not only self-sufficient in rice, it produces a surplus and can continue doing so for a time,” Habito said. “Food security can be achieved through a stronger regional buffer stock where the rice-surplus countries can fill the deficits of the rest. That way, rice could be cheaper for all, and Asean peoples, particularly in the ricedeficit countries, would generally be much more food-secure. This is what the Asean Economic Community should be about.” At present, a food security scheme has been established among members of Asean along with China, Japan and Korea in 2016, creating an emergency rice reserve for the region called APTERR or Asean Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter The program provides an exclusive market for the countries to buy rice from in case of natural calamities or emergencies, without distorting the international rice market.

Currently, the total earmarked emergency rice reserve pledged by APTERR membercountries is placed at 787,000 MT. According to the NFA, the Philippines has been benefiting from APTERR since 2010. In the wake of Typhoons Ondoy and Juan and the occurrence of La Niña and flash floods in the country, Thailand donated 520 MT of rice to the country through APTERR. “Since 2012, at least 7,200 MT of rice had been donated through the program to the Philippines for the victims of Typhoons Pablo, Yolanda and Nona,” the NFA said.

With the nearing influx of imported rice, policymakers must make sure that the country’s rice requirement is met by all means. At the same time, local farmers should be well-equipped to survive the evolving market.

Right now, the challenge is to make sure that rice farmers can compete at a price 35percent higher than imported rice, and give consumers the option to avail themselves of the staple at a more affordable price. .

https://business.inquirer.net/245204/debate-rice-strategy-continues

Madagascar Supply and Market Outlook, January 2018 REPORT from Famine Early Warning System Network

Download PDF (1.31 MB) Key Messages

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter 

Between October and November 2017, a series of market

assessments were conducted across Southern Africa by FEWS NET, in collaboration with key national and international partners. The findings from the assessment in Madagascar are key inputs to this report, which provides an update to the May 2017 Supply and Market Outlook report. 

Staple food production in Madagascar was below average in

2017. This was due to a combination of factors including Cyclone Enawo in the northeastern parts of the country, atypical dryness in many northern regions, which reduced crop yields, and relatively high cash crop prices (vanilla), which affected area planted. Harvests in southern Madagascar, were near average this year, following consecutive years of drought. At the national level, rice and maize harvests were each approximately 20 percent below 2016 levels and 11 to 21 percent below the five-year average. Cassava harvest saw a modest recovery compared to 2016 but remained similarly below-average. 

Rice imports continued to play an important role in staple food supply in 2017. In response to above-average domestic supply gaps, more than 400,000 metric tons (MT) of rice were imported during the first ten months of 2017, which is 78 percent above-average and double the amount imported in 2016.

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Staple food and cash crop prices are above-average. In main cities like Antananarivo, Toamasina and Antsirabe, local and imported rice prices have been particularly high since October 2017 peaking over 2,000 Ariary (MGA) per kilogram. Average local harvest and the availability of imports contribute to relatively stable prices in structurally deficit southern Madagascar.

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Forecasts predict weather for a more favorable harvest in MY 2017/18 than MY 2016/17. The intensity of the cyclone season, which began in November, will likely have a strong impact on food security outcomes and should continue to be monitored closely.

https://reliefweb.int/report/madagascar/madagascar-supply-and-market-outlook-january-2018

Dependence on foreign farm goods spinning out of control - SANGAM PRASAIN, Kathmandu

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

Vegetable imports have ballooned despite growing commercial farming. During the first half of the fiscal year, Nepal bought Rs11.36 billion worth of foreign veggies

Feb 2, 2018-Imports of agricultural products jumped 16.96 percent to Rs105.22 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year 2017-18, widening the country’s trade deficit and raising concerns that dependence on foreign farm goods was spinning out of control.

According to the Department of Customs, imports of agricultural products during the six-month period, mid-July 2017 to mid-January 2018, almost equalled annual imports six years ago. In 2009-10, the agro import bill totalled Rs44.43 billion.

Annual imports swelled to Rs76.05 billion in 2011-12, and to Rs99.35 billion in 2012-13. Nepal bought foreign farm products worth Rs196 billion in the last fiscal year, up 11.36 percent from the previous year.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter According to the statistics, cereal topped the list of agro imports followed by edible oil, vegetables, animal fodder and nuts and fruits.

The cereal import bill amounted to Rs22.04 billion in the first six months of this fiscal year, up 16.09 percent year-on-year.

Among cereal imports, paddy and rice imports came to Rs13.65 billion.

Nepal imported 257,009 tonnes of rice worth Rs10.86 billion from India alone in the first half of 2017-18. Likewise, the country imported 224,511 tonnes of maize worth Rs5.61 billion from India.

Agro experts say that Nepal started importing cereals seven to eight years ago, and now imports have risen to alarming levels.

Agro expert and scientist Bhola Man Singh Basnet said that despite being a food surplus country for the last five years, cereal imports had been growing largely due to an expanding middle-income population with a preference for quality rice.

“Basmati rice is imported to feed the people in Kathmandu in particular,” he said. Since Nepal doesn’t grow such fine rice in sufficient quantities, imports have been growing every year, he added.

Rice imports from India amounted to 257,009 tonnes valued at Rs10.86 billion. “This shows that Nepal has been importing fine rice,” said Basnet.

Experts point to a direct link between remittance and food habits in Nepal. “Nepalis have been earning more from the last couple of years, and demand for basmati rice has grown accordingly.” Meanwhile, maize imports have been rising due to growing demand for animal and poultry fodder.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter According to the figures, the edible oil import bill jumped 20 percent to Rs15.20 billion in the first six months of the fiscal year. Vegetable imports have ballooned despite growing commercial farming. During the first half of the fiscal year, Nepal bought Rs11.36 billion worth of foreign veggies.

Meanwhile, an expanding poultry industry has boosted imports of animal fodder. Nepal imported animal fodder worth Rs7.91 billion in the first six months, up 5.99 percent year-on-year.

Imports of chemical fertilisers recorded the strongest growth. The country imported chemical fertilisers worth Rs6.52 billion in the first half of this fiscal, a whopping 63 percent growth.

Officials at the Ministry of Agricultural Development said that they had recorded chemical fertiliser imports in terms of value this year due a fall in global prices. However, the amount of imports has remained almost the same.

http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2018-02-02/dependence-on-foreign-farm-goods-spinning-out-of-control.html

Flouting Promise: Local Importers Marginalized - Pres.

Weah Forges Partnership With Foreign Rice Importers Monrovia – President George Manneh Weah has begun a dangerous game with the country’s most political commodity – rice.

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Report by Lennart Dodoo, ldodoo@frontpageafricaonline.com

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

Rice and its demand have left indelible marks on the Liberian body politic. Some political scientists say events of the past may come back hunting the future if similar missteps occur.

In 1979, then President William R. Tolbert increased the price of a bag of rice from $22 to $30 triggering a riot in which hundreds of demonstrators were killed.

The following year, Tolbert was executed in a coup led by Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe. Today, Liberians still pine for the days of warlord-turned President Charles Taylor, when a 50kg bag of rice sold for US$22 a bag - about half the price it sells today (though double its value on the world market).

Fast track to 2018, President George Manneh Weah’s administration now faces a compounded task of reducing the price of rice in an economy massively dominated by foreigners.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter On Thursday, February 1st, Mr. Weah met with the association of rice importers, also dominated by foreign investors.

The purpose of the meeting, according to an Executive Mansion release, was to step up efforts to ensure the price of the nation’s staple food is substantially reduced and made affordable for ordinary Liberians.

President Weah, according to the Executive Mansion release, said his government was fully prepared to work with rice importers in every way possible to reduce the price of rice.

President Weah said it was intolerable that in the midst of acute hardship and mass unemployment the price of nation’s staple continues to increase.

“I am ready to work with you and resolve all the issues that underpin the galloping price of rice so that our people will afford to buy.”

“If government-imposed tax is an issue, you can rest assure that my government is more than ready to grant reasonable adjustments in the tax regime to make the reduction of rice price possible,” the President said.

But the President’s move is not all about ensuring affordability of rice, as FrontPageAfrica has gathered that the move is also part of a payback plan to some major importers including George Nehme, CEO of Supplying West Africa Trader Inc. (SWAT) and the Harbel Supermarket Corporation.

Multiple sources have confirmed to FrontPageAfrica that the businessman was a key financier of President Weah’s election campaign that led to his massive victory.

Political pundits and some local importers wanting anonymity are querying the President’s meeting with the giant importers when they had expected him to be considering empowering Liberians to match up the foreigners in the import of major commodities.

This, in their view, runs contrary to his pledge in his inaugural address where he said he would ensure that Liberians would no longer be spectators in their own economy.

Pres. Weah said in the inaugural speech: “We will do all that is within our power to provide an environment that will be conducive for the conduct of honest and transparent business. We will remove unnecessary regulatory constraints that tend to impede the establishment and operation of business in a profitable and predictable manner.”

“As we open our doors to all foreign direct investments, we will not permit Liberian-owned businesses to be marginalized. We cannot remain spectators in our own economy. My government will prioritize the interests of

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Liberian-owned businesses and offer programs to help them become more competitive and offer services that international investors seek as partners.”

But the honest and transparent business spoken of by the President is not what is currently being witnessed in the rice import sector.

For example, the quality of rice supplied by Mr. Nehme’s SWAT company supplies is 50% rice and 5% kernel.

The company has stood several allegations of importing very low grade.

Last year, SWAT faced several allegations ranging from importing a consignment of contaminated Bella Luna parboiled long grain rice. Another brand of the rice imported by SWAT – BB Rice – was widely believed by the public to be synthetic rice (plastic rice).

However, a test conducted by the National Standards Laboratory proved that BB Rice is indeed real rice, but very poor in quality.

Currently, there are four companies licensed to import rice by the vessel load.

They account for about 95% of all rice imports (SWAT and UCI each bring in over 100,000 metric tons (MT) per year and the third company, Fouta Corporation, does about 70,000 MT. K&K is the fourth licensed importer and does only about two vessels (40,000 MT) per year. Small traders, who import rice in 20- foot ocean containers, apparently have different licensing requirements.

“What we had expected of the President isn’t to continue strengthening these powerful importers. What we expected from him is to bring all the local importers together and find out our challenges in maximizing our imports. Foreigners must not feed our people, we must,” said one local importer.

The Lebanese national, Nehme, almost has monopoly over the rice market in Liberia and has been solidifying ties with President Weah in an effort to expand his businesses in Liberia, this paper has gathered.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Why approved Chinese-developed GMO rice that boosts yields, reduces pesticide use not available to country's farmers, consumers Clement et al. | Pertanika Journal of Scholarly Research Reviews | February 1, 2018

In 2009, two insect-resistant genetically modified rice lines (Huahui-1 and Bt-Shanyou -63) were granted biosafety certificates by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) in China after nearly 10 years of rigorous and strict biosafety assessments. Most farmers welcomed the planting of the transgenic rice due to their potential to reduce pesticide spraying by 50-60%, increase yield by 60-65% and improve the health of farmers. [However,] these two lines have yet [to be] commercialized ... largely because of low public acceptance. ... This has created a dilemma. On the one hand, the government has invested substantial amounts of funding in GM crop development, but on the other hand, the end users or consumers are not prepared to accept GM products due to safety reasons.

Public worries still exist simply because the protocols of the technology remains too technical to be understood. Consumers often do not have access to appropriate channels providing science-based and easy-to-understand information. Consequently, they are misled by activists from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which utilizes the social media reports to publicize the misconception of GM crops. The outreach of scientists in educating the public with essential knowledge of transgenic

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter biotechnology, its benefits derived and biosafety issues is crucially needed in order to bring notable impact to the public’s acceptance of GM crops. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/02/01/approved-chinese-developed-gmo-rice-boosts-yieldsreduces-pesticide-not-available-countrys-farmers-consumers/

Bangladesh to scrap rice imports from Thailand Reuters . Dhaka | Update: 09:31, Feb 02, 2018

Bangladesh will scrap a plan to import 150,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand, agreed at $465 a tonne in October, head of the state grains buyer said on Thursday.“They have been taking too much time to finalise the deal. There is no point to wait for them when we are getting supplies from other sources, including India, at cheaper rates,” Badrul Hasan, the director general of Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Food, told Reuters.

Traditionally the world’s fourth-biggest rice producer, Bangladesh emerged as a major importer of the grain in 2017 after floods damaged crops and sent domestic prices to record highs.

USA Rice Participates in Cancer Prevention Month

By Cameron Jacobs ARLINGTON, VA -- February 1 marks the start of Cancer Prevention Month and in that spirit USA Rice has partnered with the American Institute of Cancer Research (AICR) to support their month-long awareness campaign and share the message of prevention.

Throughout the month, USA Rice will share information across social media platforms using the hashtag #cancerprevention with the hope of engaging and empowering Americans to take daily lifestyle steps to lower cancer risks. USA Rice joins thirty-six other organizational partners in support of AICR's initiative.

"We support every aspect of this awareness campaign," said Michael Klein, USA Rice vice president of marketing and communications. "Research shows that rice and whole grain consumption can play a critical role in maintaining a healthy weight and diet, both of which help to decrease individuals' cancer risks. USA Rice's research and information combined with all of the campaign partners' resources will

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make this a truly impactful and informative campaign."

"We are so pleased to have USA Rice join us as a partner in this effort," said Deirdre McGinley-Gieser, AICR senior vice president of programs and strategic. "Nutrition and food based partners add another dimension to this campaign, serving as both a resource of information to our network and also increasing the distribution of AICR prevention messaging."

For more information about the Cancer Prevention Month awareness campaign and to view all of the AICR campaign partners, visit www.aicr.org/can-prevent/partners and be sure to use #cancerprevention for your relevant social media posts this month.

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Pres. Weah Meets Rice Importers - Targets Reduction in Price of Staple Food

Monrovia – President George Manneh Weah has met in audience the importers of rice and stepped up efforts to ensure the price of the nation’s staple food is substantially reduced and made affordable for ordinary Liberians.

According to an Executive Mansion release, the Liberian leader made the comments when he met with officials of the Association of Rice Importers today in the presence of Commerce and Industry Minister Designate Prof. Wilson Tarpeh.

The Liberian Chief Executive said his government was fully prepared to work with rice importers in every way possible to reduce the price of rice, which is also referred to as a political commodity.

President Weah said it was intolerable that in the midst of acute hardship and mass unemployment the price of rice continues to increase, adding: “I am ready to work with you and resolve all the issues that underpin the galloping price of rice so that our people will afford to buy.”

“If government-imposed tax is an issue, you can rest assure that my government is more than ready to grant reasonable adjustments in the tax regime to make the reduction of rice price possible,” the President said.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter The President averred that the reduction of the prices of essential commodities is inextricably integral to his administration’s pro-poor governance agenda.

Speaking earlier, the rice importers told President Weah that they were willing to dialogue with government to ensure that the price of rice is reduced.

https://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/news/6808-pres-weah-meets-riceimporters-targets-reduction-in-the-price-of-stable-food

Nigerian govt bans Customs from seizing rice in markets February 1, 2018

By Wale Odunsi

The Federal Government has asked the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to stop raiding markets to seize imported rice.Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, made the disclosure yesterday in a chat with State House correspondents after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter She disclosed that government has approved N1.12 billion for the purchase of 50 operational “anti-rice smuggling” vehicles to check the persistent smuggling of the commodity into the country”.

Her words: “We felt that it is important we don’t want customs going to seize rice in the markets.

“Customs should actually act to stop rice coming in at the border posts and customs indicated that they need additional vehicles, additional resources as well as of course other more information-driven strategies to stop it.”

Adeosun explained that the procurement of the operational vehicles was also meant to stop customs officials from invading markets to seize smuggled rice and harassing traders.

“The second approval was for the purchase of 50 vehicles and they are going to be deployed for an anti-rice smuggling task force that is being put together which customs will be leading,” she added. http://dailypost.ng/2018/02/01/nigerian-govt-bans-customs-seizing-rice-markets/

Hoarding: A catalyst for the rice crisis  

Bilkis Irani Published at 12:34 AM February 02, 2018 Rice sacks have been stockpiled at a depotDhaka Tribune

2017 was a year of soaring rice prices. Millers and traders, who have been blamed for the price anomaly, pointed fingers at natural disasters. The government could do little to curb the hoarding situation.

The Dhaka Tribune’s Bilkis Irani travelled across three northern districts Naogaon, Dinajpur, and Panchagarh to track the change in price from paddy to rice. This is the second in a three-part series on the crisis in rice prices Farmers in the majority of the northern districts faced crop loss during the recent Aman growing season because of severe flooding and pest attacks.

But a Dhaka Tribune investigation has also revealed that a significant portion of the last season’s Boro paddy still remains with the speculators among the traders and millers.

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There are two types of speculation going on in the rice market. When there is a hint of short supply in the market, comparatively wealthier farmers and traders can wait for about 15 days to one month for the price to rise a bit more.

On the other hand, big traders and millers, who have huge storage capacities, can store either paddy or rice for several months and create an artificial shortfall to reap the benefits.

Md Ashraful, a small paddy trader at Boda upazila of Panchagarh, told Dhaka Tribune that sometimes he holds back one to two truckloads of paddy for a couple of weeks. “About 200-250 sacks (75kg sack) can be loaded on a truck. I store the paddy to sell it later at a higher price.”

Mojibur Rahman, a paddy trader at Mohabbatpur under Dinajpur Sadar upazila, mentioned that the small traders like them cannot afford to hold back huge amounts of paddy or rice for long like the millers.

Mojibur also noted that the large-scale millers were able to store a huge quantity of paddy during the Boro season. “They have stored the lot as paddy instead of processing it. It’s a ploy they’re using to get around the laws. When the time will be ripe, they will process the paddy and sell the rice.”

Meet the rice syndicate Small traders in Dinajpur, Panchagarh and Naogaon were almost equivocal to claim that dishonest wholesalers and millers have formed syndicates to hoard rice.

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When there is space in the warehouse of a miller, it is utilized by the miller’s cohorts who have surplus stocks of paddy, according to the small traders.

This Dhaka Tribune correspondent visited some of the auto rice mills based on the allegations. She had to pose as a researcher because no journalist was welcome to visit the storage facilities.

At the warehouse of Sarwar Automatic Rice Mill in Mahmudpur area under Dinajpur Sadar, the stack of paddy sacks were found to be above the declared capacity of the mill, which is 50 metric tons.

Admitting the fact, the mill’s owner Sarwar Syed Sohel said he did not own any of the stock of paddy stored in the warehouse at that time.

He claimed another rice miller kept the paddy in his warehouse to be processed there within one month.

During a conversation, the workers of Mousumi Auto Rice Mill at Mataji Road in Mohadebpur upazila, Naogoon claiming to have worked on piles of paddy round the year.

“We work here on daily wage basis. But we work here at a stretch, seven days a week. We can’t even afford to take a day off in a month. We only get a vacation the month of Kartik (between October-November) in the year. It is just before the Aman harvest,” said a female worker, preferring not to be named.

“This year, the operation at the mill was halted for eight to ten days more in the month of Ashwin (between September-October) because of the floods. The supply of paddy during the rest of the time has been normal.

We don’t find a respite from the work,” she added.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter However, an overseer of the mill workers, who was present during the conversation, mentioned that the stock of paddy existing in their warehouse was actually imported from Panchagarh.

The correspondent later visited the rice producing areas of Panchagarh. The traders and millers there brushed aside the claim of that their paddy was being transported to Naogaon.

“The price of paddy doesn’t vary much from Panchagarh to Naogaon. It will not be cost-effective for the millers to buy the rice from here. Besides, Panchagarh doesn’t produce much rice to be exported to another district,” said Hafizur Rahman, a wholesaler in Sakhoa Bazar of Boda upazila in Panchagarh.

Outrageous capacity of the rice mills While some rice millers and their employees were very reluctant to give information about the rice stocks in their mill, some of them, on the other hand, expressed quite candidly that they have to store the paddy for months to keep the mills operational.

Anisur Rahmn, owner of Tasiron Automatic Rice Mill at Rambhadrapur in Naogaon town, said the paddy production in Aman season is generally much lower compared to that of the Boro season, and the rice mills have to store paddy from the Boro harvest to keep the mills operational all the year round.

Toufiqul Islam, owner of Mofiz Uddin Auto Rice Mills in Raninagar upazila of the district, admitted that he had a stock of Boro paddy collected about six months ago.

This correspondent found some stock of Chinigura rice processed at Rajia Semi-Auto Rice Mill of the same area. Chinigura is fragrant non-boiled rice variety that is cultivated only in Aman season. During the visit, the paddy of that variety was yet to be harvested.

Workers at the mill said the rice was collected in December of 2016. During the floods of August-September, the rice stock was shifted in a godown elsewhere. But the same rice stock returned to the mill to be processed further so that the rice gives a glow and looks fresh.

Naogaon District Controller of Food, Abdus Salam, however, argued that they had not found any undue rice stock in the mills. “The millers can store paddy up to five times of the capacity for 30 days, and rice up to twice the capacity for 15 days.”

Does regulation equal anarchy?

Officials of the Directorate of Food in Dinajpur also informed that they were unable to trace undue stocks of rice during their inspection. They also noted that there is a direction from the high ups of the ministry not to create panic for the millers while the directorate also lacks the manpower to carry out the inspection in all the mills of the district.

Dr Asaduzzaman, professorial fellow at state-run think tank Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), observed that the rice milling sector has expanded in Bangladesh without much regulation being put into effect.

“The number of large-capacity automatic rice mills established over the last decade is superfluous. About 40% of the capacity of those automatic rice mills remains unutilized. So a bulk of the rice produced throughout the

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter year ends up in the hands of the millers. They do have the ability to influence the rice price,” Asaduzzaman said.

There are about 20,000 rice mills across the country that process and market at least 60% of the paddy produced in the country.

There were only 200 semi-automatic and automatic rice mills in the country in 2005. But the number has now crossed 800, said AKM Khorshed Alam Khan, president of Bangladesh Auto Rice Mills Owners’ Association.

When contacted over phone, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury said: “They (millers) tend to hoard. There are dishonest quarters among them. Some of them cut the coarse rice and turn it into Miniket (fine rice). They stock the rice. We are monitoring it as best as we can. Would you advise me to send police to each and every mill and end up creating anarchy?” https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/special/2018/02/02/hoarding-catalyst-rice-crisis/

Debate on rice strategy continues By: Karl R. Ocampo- @inquirerdotnet Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:28 AM February 02, 2018

(Conclusion) Contrary to the administration’s action plan and recommendations from economists, industry group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) wants the country to reach its decade-old dream of rice self-sufficiency and stop relying on imports.

The group maintained that if the government would subsidize rice farmers in the production to marketing stage, raise the National Food Authority’s (NFA) farmgate support price for palay and incentivize local rice millers to modernize operations, producing our own staple would be more beneficial for the country in the long run.

It cited data from the latest report of the United States Department of Agriculture where it noted that less than 10 percent of global rice production was tradeable, with 66 percent already allotted to China.

“Shortage may happen with limited supply of rice going around the market,” the group said. “The greatest tragedy of our times is the destruction of our capacity to produce our own staples.”

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Food security But for former Economic Planning Secretary Cielito Habito, food security does not equate to rice self-sufficiency.

“The most unfortunate irony of all is that under current circumstances, the more we pursue 100-percent rice self-sufficiency, the more we make most Filipinos foodinsecure. Food security and food self-sufficiency are two different things. Food security denotes reliable access to adequate, affordable, safe and nutritious food. Our selfsufficiency policy has had the perhaps unwitting effect of making rice much more expensive to Filipino consumers than it needs to be, with the Filipino poor suffering the most,” he said.

Habito emphasized the need for the present administration to help farmers diversify their produce accordingly by choosing crops that are more suitable to their lands, and stop chasing the elusive goal of rice self-sufficiency, which, over the years, has been proven to be unsuccessful despite numerous government interventions.

Historically, rice has taken the lion’s share of the agriculture budget. For 2018, the agency will continue advocating the use of hybrid rice seeds, and loan and insurance programs are expected to cater mostly to rice crops.

“Our marginal rice farmers should be assisted to shift to other more remunerative crops suitable for their lands. Meanwhile, utmost productivity support must be given to our rice lands that are inherently competitive in rice, including in Central Luzon and Western Visayas,” said Habito.

Economist and Ateneo professor Leonardo Lanzona Jr. agreed, emphasizing that the country must now move away from prioritizing the production of the staple.

“It would be better to use funds that we have for producing high-value crops or improving technology. Ever if we move some of the rice producers to planting high-

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter value crops, our growth would continue to increase. But, of course, we need to have some agricultural development program,” he said.

“Lifting the QR will benefit the public in general, but there should be a social protection for farmers. Subsidize to a limited extent, but what is more important is to give them incentives to look for other options,” he added.

Lanzona said that the shift to other crops from rice would not mean neglecting the agriculture sector. For him, the farm sector must be developed toward a direction where the Philippines might have a comparative advantage against other countries. “Right now, we don’t have a comparative advantage on rice anymore.”

Both economists said they believed that food security should be best pursued at the regional level, and this is where Asean plays a crucial role.

“Asean as a region is not only self-sufficient in rice, it produces a surplus and can continue doing so for a time,” Habito said. “Food security can be achieved through a stronger regional buffer stock where the rice-surplus countries can fill the deficits of the rest. That way, rice could be cheaper for all, and Asean peoples, particularly in the ricedeficit countries, would generally be much more food-secure. This is what the Asean Economic Community should be about.”

At present, a food security scheme has been established among members of Asean along with China, Japan and Korea in 2016, creating an emergency rice reserve for the region called APTERR or Asean Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve.

The program provides an exclusive market for the countries to buy rice from in case of natural calamities or emergencies, without distorting the international rice market.

Currently, the total earmarked emergency rice reserve pledged by APTERR membercountries is placed at 787,000 MT. According to the NFA, the Philippines has been benefiting from APTERR since 2010. In the wake of Typhoons Ondoy and Juan and

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter the occurrence of La Niña and flash floods in the country, Thailand donated 520 MT of rice to the country through APTERR. “Since 2012, at least 7,200 MT of rice had been donated through the program to the Philippines for the victims of Typhoons Pablo, Yolanda and Nona,” the NFA said.

With the nearing influx of imported rice, policymakers must make sure that the country’s rice requirement is met by all means. At the same time, local farmers should be well-equipped to survive the evolving market.

Right now, the challenge is to make sure that rice farmers can compete at a price 35percent higher than imported rice, and give consumers the option to avail themselves of the staple at a more affordable price.

https://business.inquirer.net/245204/debate-rice-strategycontinues#ixzz55wXcwlWX

India Expects Rise in Basmati Exports as Iran Resumes Rice Imports The resumption of rice imports by Iran could give a fillip to India’s basmati shipments that have risen by about a fourth in rupee terms in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (started March 21, 2017), the Indian newspaper Hindu Business Line reported. Iran is the largest buyer of India’s basmati and accounts for a fourth of India’s annual aromatic rice shipments of around four million tons. The country restarted rice import registration this year from Jan. 21 till June 21. The permission was communicated by Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati in a letter to Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari.

According to the letter, the order registrations will be valid for a three-month period and are extendable by a further one month. Hojjati noted that any rice shipments as per the new orders need to be cleared through Iranian customs by July 22, after which all imports will be banned. Every year and during the rice harvest season (July-January), the Iranian government bans rice imports in support of local farmers and

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter domestic production. “Based on the current export trend, we expect basmati shipments to be higher than last year,” said DK Singh, chairman of India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority. Basmati is the second largest product in Apeda’s export portfolio after buffalo meat and accounts for over 22% of the total shipment value. In the April-November period of this fiscal year, basmati exports grew 29% to $2.61 billion from $2.02 billion in the corresponding period of last year.

In rupee terms, basmati exports grew 24% to Rs.16,838 crore (1 crore=10 million) during the AprilNovember period from Rs.13,571 crore in the corresponding year-ago period. In 2016-17, India’s basmati exports stood at 3.98 million tons valued at over $3.22 billion. However, Indian rice exporters are cautiously optimistic over the shipment prospects with Iran, considering the fact that they have been facing issues related to traces of fungicide in exports to the European Union, another major market. “We expect basmati shipments this year to be the same as last year or even higher,” said Rajen Sundaresan, executive director of All-India Rice Exporters Association. Sticking Points “While Iran has reopened its market, it has stopped extending concessional foreign exchange (set at lower rates compared to market prices) to its rice importers,” said Vijay Setia, president of AIREA. The move is aimed at discouraging more rice imports into the West Asian country. Furthermore, Iran has also been raising objections to the digital phyto-sanitary certificates issued by Indian authorities. The issues have been taken up with India’s Agriculture Ministry and are likely to be resolved soon, sources said. Iranians consume 3.2 million tons of rice a year while domestic production stands at 2.2 million tons. “We need imports, but imports that are limited and controlled,” Hojjati has been quoted as saying.

More than 1.05 million tons of semi- and wholly-milled rice worth close to $996 million were imported into Iran during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept. 22), registering an 84.4% and 108.4% surge in weight and value respectively compared with the corresponding period of last year. Rice imports accounted for 6% and 4.2% of the volume and value of Iran’s overall imports respectively during the six-month period. Imports are made mainly from the UAE, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey and Iraq.

The two northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran are home to a majority of Iran’s paddy fields. A total of 81% and 70% of rice harvest in the two provinces respectively were mechanized in the last Iranian year. https://financialtribune.com/articles/economy-business-and-markets/81179/india-expects-rise-in-basmatiexports-as-iran-resumes

China’s rice, soybean imports top the world in 2017 (People's Daily Online) 17:30, February 01, 2018China’s rice and soybean imports continued to top the

world in 2017, according to the General Administration of Customs. Experts say food safety is still guaranteed, as the self-sufficiency rate of grain remained over 95 percent, Science and Technology Daily reported.

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Statistics by the administration show that China’s total cereals imports in 2017 reached 130.62 million tons, up 13.9 percent than 2016. The imports of soybeans, rice, wheat, and corn were 95.53 million tons, 4.03 million tons, 4.42 million tons, and 2.83 million tons, respectively.

Although China’s total import of cereals surpassed 130 million tons, exceeding one fifth the country’s total grain output, the country’s food safety can still be ensured as the self-sufficiency rate of grain still remained over 95 percent, said Xiao Guoying, a researcher with the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Xiao explained that Chinese people’s food resources depend on rice and wheat, while the imported soybeans and corn are mainly used as oil-bearing crops and fodder.

China’s large import of soybeans in the past decade reflects China’s high demand of imported protein sources to improve Chinese people’s living standard.

The imported transgenic soybeans provide Chinese with 80 percent of edible oil, and are also used as fodder. It ensures the fodder supply of China’s breeding industry and people’s relatively high living standard, Xiao noted.

Chinese scientist Wang Dayuan also stressed that China should have a response plan for the case that soybean imports are influenced by the international situation.

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Commodities Buzz: Chinas Rice Plantation To Down 2.2 In 2017 capital market | Mumbai | February 01, 2018 10:02 IST

As per latest data release by Agriculture Ministry China, there will be curb in planting of rice, its most important food grain, in a major step towards reducing a growing mountain of unsold stocks.

The worlds second-largest rice grower will aim to slash the acreage planted by over 10 million mu or about 670,000 hectares, it said, around 2.2 percent of its plantings for 2017.

It is the first time China has sought to curb planting acreage of its most important food, underlining its worry over stock levels. https://www.indiainfoline.com/article/capital-market-commodity-futures-pre-sessioncommentary/commodities-buzz-chinas-rice-plantation-to-down-2-2-in-2017-118020100466_1.html

Consumers to gain from new rice policy By: Karl R. Ocampo- @inquirerdotnet Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:22 AM February 01, 2018

(First of 2 parts) Myrna Panaguiton, a 56-year-old on-call helper in Caloocan City, was doubtful about the prospect of cheaper rice in the market before the end of the year. With a family of nine, rice makes up a huge chunk in the Panaguiton household’s budget. In a week, the family consumes 10 kilos of rice at an average of P37 a kilo. This is about P370 in a week.

“Of course cheaper rice is good for us, but I don’t want to say anything unless it really happens,” she said in Filipino. “Imagine our expenses with the new tax law, everything is getting expensive. For what I know, prices of rice will rise, too.”

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter As an on-call helper, Panaguiton earns P3,000 a week from cleaning houses and washing clothes. Meanwhile, her niece is set to work overseas in the Middle East next month as a househelp. The other members of the family are either too old or too young to work.

The Panaguiton family is only one of the hundreds of thousands of families in the country that rely heavily on rice. For this year, a new policy direction being taken by the Duterte administration is predicted to lower the retail price of rice by as much as P6.97 a kilo.

With current retail prices, this means regular milled rice and well-milled rice will be priced at P31.08 and P35.34 a kilo, respectively. In a study made by the Southeast Asian Regional Center in 2010, a Filipino’s average consumption of rice per year was at 119 kilos while annual household consumption was at 568 kilos.

For a family of nine that consumes 10 kilos of regular milled rice in a week, this would translate to P69.70 in savings—more than enough to buy two more kilos of rice.

However, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol is less optimistic with the rosy forecast, along with rice retailers and distributors on the ground. The administration’s decision to stop regulating the entry of imported rice in the country by lifting the limit it imposes under the so-called quantitative restriction (QR) scheme is not bound to make any difference, he claimed.

Import restriction In exchange for lower tariff rates and more flexible trade pacts, the Philippines allows rice to be imported in the country as part of its obligation to the World Trade Organization under a so-called quantitative restriction (QR) scheme.

The QR, which puts a cap on the volume of rice to be imported, is meant to protect local rice producers from being stifled by competition in the market.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Back during the Ramos administration, the government decided to set the country’s import quota at 350,000 metric tons (MT) with a tariff rate of 35 percent on rice that would come from other WTO member-countries. Rice that would be coming from nonWTO members would have to pay a higher tariff of 50 percent.

The country later on extended this scheme up to 2012, and then again to 2017, during the Aquino administration. While these extensions were approved, they came with a price in the form of concessions. These concessions were a compromise for other member-countries that wanted to take advantage of free trade. To further protect rice farmers, the government agreed to lower its tariff rates for the entry of processed pork, dairy, oil seeds and frozen potatoes while also increasing the limit of imported rice to 850,000 MT. But the country could not hide under the blanket protection of QR forever. The administration of President Duterte is finally seeking to amend the decade-old law that put in place the rice import quota in line with its economic managers’ decision to scrap the QR for good this year.

“Removal of the QR will increase imports and depress palay prices,” economist Roehlano Briones said in a study published by the state-run think tank Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS). “Rice imports are cheaper than domestically produced rice. Under a free market, the market price of rice will decline with the influx of cheaper rice imports.”

Most consumers are unaware that rice from abroad is cheaper than domestically produced rice. Data from the United Nations’ agriculture arm showed that since the 1990s, the price of rice in the world market has remained cheaper compared to the price of rice in the Philippines. This was due, in part, to higher cost of production since the country has very limited land suitable for rice production as compared to other Asean countries.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter PIDS noted that “as a result, production cost goes up before enough rice is produced to meet domestic demand.”

Nonetheless, Piñol said he believed the lifting of QR would not make any difference in current rice prices. “There are statements that the lifting of QR will reduce the price of rice in the market by P7. It’s a flawed assumption,” he argued.

“Let’s not kid ourselves. For how many years have we been importing rice? Those imported by the private sector, do we see any of those being sold in the commercial market? No. Even the imported rice are mixed in the local rice so consumers don’t feel the effect of importation and even the lifting of the QR,” he added.

Rice distributors have the same sentiment.

“I don’t think that is going to happen,” said Jun Aguilar, a wholesale and retail distributor in Cagayan Valley. He and other traders sell rice in the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Cebu, Davao and Metro Manila. “With no limits to importation, traders will blend rice again maybe at a 70-30 ratio of local and imported. Expenses in producing rice is huge right now.”

But whether or not rice prices would be affected or remain at its current level, Aguilar said that as traders, they could always change their selling price according to movements in the market.

“It’s really the consumers and especially the farmers, who will be greatly affected by this,” he said.

For industry group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag), lifting QRs would not automatically reduce the retail price of rice.

“The liberalization of the agriculture sector since the mid-’90s saw the dumping of agriculture imports in the country, but it did not help in lowering the prices of most agriculture products,” it said. The sorry state of the garlic industry could be the

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36

Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter exception. With almost 85-90 percent of the country’s garlic supply sourced from outside in the last 10 years, it did result in the lowering of the retail prices of garlic.

For the agriculture chief, the only way for consumers to feel the change in policy was if the government would decide to set a benchmark for the price of imported rice—a mandate that only the National Food Authority has the power to impose.

“Unless they allow private traders to import rice with a condition that they can only sell these imports at a certain price, it can work. But until then, nothing is going to change.”

With nothing to stop the deluge of rice imports that are about to enter the country, stakeholders in the agriculture sector as well as economic managers are banking on one thing: A better safeguard for local farmers against tighter competition.

The Duterte administration has decided to remove its quota on importation under the QR scheme, which was meant to work as a protection for our own rice producers.

Faced to compete with cheaper rice imports, many are worried that this scheme would aggravate the plight of local farmers who are mostly caught up in poverty.

“What we need is a comprehensive government program that would significantly increase public spending in the strategic areas of the rice sector,” Sinag said.

“These government programs must be anchored on the development of our capacity to produce our staple and food requirements,” the group added.

http://business.inquirer.net/245111/consumers-gain-new-rice-policy#ixzz55wZRWlUE

NFA-Bohol rice stocks dip due to late boat d February 1, 2018, 10:00 PM

By Dandan A. Bantugan Tagbilaran City – The National Food Authority (NFA) in Bohol has suspended the selling of its rice to its outlets because the chartered boat that brings rice stocks from Cebu has been delayed.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter NFA-Bohol Manager Maria Fe Evasco said the boat was expected to arrive in Tagbilaran today, February 2, but it will be delayed by about two days.

Meanwhile, the NFA is running out of rice to distribute to its outlets. That’s because it is reserving its remaining stock for emergencies and calamities and for feeding jail inmates.

Evasco said the stock from the Cebu depot of NFA regional office is shipped through a private shipping line which could only deliver 500 bags a day.

This is why the supply of NFA rice in Bohol is limited and the accredited outlets sell only commercial rice, Evasco said.

The remaining stock at the NFA-Bohol warehouse is reserved for Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and the local units of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), she said.

It means the current stock is only sufficient for the food security requirement in times of emergencies and calamities that would be attended to by the DSWD and the food requirement of jails which is attended to by the BJMP and for relief operations of the disaster risk reduction and management units, Evasco said.

She said the supply of NFA rice has to be conserved to meet the requirements of these agencies.

Tags: National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, National Food Authority, rice stocks

https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/02/01/nfa-bohol-rice-stocks-dip-due-to-late-boat/

Rice storage facilities ready next month Chea Vannak / Khmer Times

A Cambodian farmer collecting paddy with a basket. KT/Chor Sokunthea

The rice storage facilities funded by the government under a lending scheme will be ready within a month, with sector insiders claiming they will be key in helping the ailing rice industry recover.

The government has disbursed more than $30 million in loans to build silos, depots and warehouses in four rice-growing provinces – Battambang, Kampong Thom, Prey Veng and Takeo.

Loans are repaid at a five percent interest rate over a period of 10 years.

38

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

The silos and depots will be finished by late February and warehouses are expected to be ready by April, said Kao Thach, director-general of state-owned Rural Development Bank (RDB), the institution that disbursed and manages the loans.

These storage facilities will help avert a crisis in the rice industry like the one experienced in 2016, Mr Thach said.

“I hope the new facilities will help us avoid another crisis,” he said. “Their capacity is huge; big enough to store all paddy produced during the harvest season in those provinces.”

“The 2016 crisis came about, mostly, because of a lack of storage infrastructure.

When all the storage facilities are operational, we can fend off another crisis. The government has done a good job in this regard,” Mr Thach said.

Each silo can store up to 1,500 tonnes of paddy, while the warehouses have a capacity of 5,000 tonnes.

“The new infrastructure will allow us to expand the amount of rice we process for export,” said Song Saran, CEO of Amru Rice, one of four beneficiaries of the lending scheme.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter The great capacity of the storage facilities will help curb the outflow of paddy to neighboring countries, said Mr Saran, adding that millers will have at their disposal a year’s worth of rice.

For the period 2017-2018, the government gave an extra $50 million in emergency loans to the sector.

Mr Thach said he expected even more money to become available as the year progresses given that the rice season lasts until April. http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50105719/rice-storage-facilities-ready-next-month/

Bangladesh to scrap planned rice imports from Thailand FEBRUARY 1, 2018 / 1:09 PM / Reuters Staff DHAKA, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Bangladesh will scrap a plan to import 150,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand, agreed at $465 a tonne in October, head of the state grains buyer said on Thursday.“They have been taking too much time to finalise the deal. There is no point to wait for them when we are getting supplies from other sources, including India, at cheaper rates,” Badrul Hasan, the director general of Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Food, told Reuters.

Traditionally the world’s fourth-biggest rice producer, Bangladesh emerged as a major importer of the grain in 2017 after floods damaged crops and sent domestic prices to record highs.Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Christian Schmollinger https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL4N1PR2VS

Rice production in Ukraine will increase 01.02.2018 | UkrAgroConsult According to the Kherson regional administration, rice plantings and yields in the region increase from year to year. This may shortly result in full self-sufficiency of Ukraine with this cereal crop.

A drastic improvement of the rice sector is expected in the region, but it will improve in line with up-to-date practices for growing this cereal, reports UkrAgroConsult.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

Rice planted areas totaled 7.5 Th ha in 2016 and 7.8 Th ha in 2017. The yields equaled 5.4 MT/ha in 2016 and 5.7 MT/ha in 2017.

Import substitution is now one of the main tasks for the region. Kherson region is Ukraine’s top grower of rice.

Noteworthy is that Ukraine annually imports some 50-80 KMT of rice, mostly from Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Vietnam.

http://www.blackseagrain.net/novosti/rice-production-in-ukraine-will-increase

Indian rice prices surge to over six-year high on steady demand, strong rupee Koustav Samanta BENGALURU (Reuters) - Rice prices in India, the world’s biggest exporter of the staple, extended a recent rally this week to reach their highest in 6-1/2 years on robust overseas demand and limited supply amid a stronger local currency.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

People transport sacks of rice through a boat at a flooded village in Morigaon district in Assam, India August 20, 2017. REUTERS/Anuwar Hazarika/File Photo “Inquiries have risen from Asian and African buyers but supplies are limited. The recent upside in the rupee is also forcing us to raise prices,” said an exporter based in Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

India’s 5 percent broken parboiled rice prices rose by $3 per tonne to $447-$451, the maximum since September 2011, when India lifted a four-year-old ban on non-basmati rice shipments.

The Indian rupee was trading near its highest in 32 months, slashing exporters’ returns from overseas sales.India’s rice exports likely jumped 22 percent in 2017 to a record 12.3 million tonnes as Bangladesh ramped up purchases.

Bangladesh has emerged as a major importer of the grain since last year after floods damaged its crops.On Thursday, the head of the state grains buyer in Bangladesh said the country will scrap a plan to import 150,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand, agreed at $465 a tonne in October.In Thailand, benchmark 5 percent broken rice narrowed to $443-$446 per tonne, free-on-board (FOB) Bangkok, after hitting a peak since June 2017 last week at $440-$448.

The Thai Rice Exporters Association on Wednesday urged the government to temper a rise in the baht to protect exports, after the local currency soared to over four-year highs against the dollar. Exporters were concerned that a stronger baht, which translates to higher export prices in U.S. dollars, could affect the competitiveness of Thai rice globally.

“Everything depends on the exchange rate. My business has gone quiet, because clients say it’s too expensive now,” said a Bangkok-based trader.Meanwhile, high prices prevailed in Vietnam on depleted stocks, with benchmark 5 percent broken rice trading at $440-$450, FOB Saigon. Prices hit a more than three-year high of $450 a tonne last week.

Traders said, however, there would be enough supply for the deal with Indonesia, whose purchase of about 346,000 tonnes from four exporting countries including Vietnam had boosted prices.Traders expect prices to ease around the end of February, when the harvest for the winter-spring paddy is complete.“Prices might drop but it depends on demand at the time of harvest,” a trader based in Ho Chi Minh city said.Another trader said the new crop has been collected from some 150,000 hectares (370,600 acres) of rice so far, a small part in the country’s 1.65 million hectares of growing area. Reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat in Bangkok, Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Mi Nguyen in Hanoi, and Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Editing by David Evans https://in.reuters.com/article/asia-rice/indian-rice-prices-surge-to-over-six-year-high-on-steady-demandstrong-rupee-idINKBN1FL506

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Thai rice export to fall this year TNA on Wed, 01/31/2018 - 10:27

BANGKOK, Jan 31 (TNA) -- The Thai Rice Exporters Association predicts Thailand will export 9.5 million tons of rice this year, a smaller amount than the figure of last year, due to strong baht.

Charoen Laothamatas, president of the association, said the export value was estimated at US$4.3 billion and demand for Thai rice continued from Iran, the Philippines, Indonesia and China (through a government-togovernment contract) among other countries.

Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the association, said baht was stronger than the currencies of other rice-exporting competitors and could result in expensive Thai rice in global markets. He asked the government to supervise the baht value.

He also said that Thailand lacked some kinds of rice demanded by some particular countries including long-stocked rice that Africa favoured. Besides, many rice-importing countries were trying to produce rice locally and block rice from exporting countries, Mr Chookiat said.

He assured that this year’s rice export would be lower than the all-time high export of 11.6 million tons last year.

(TNA

http://www.oananews.org/content/news/bussiness/thai-rice-export-fall-year

India Expects Rise in Basmati Exports as Iran Resumes Rice Imports Thursday, February 01, 2018

T

he resumption of rice imports by Iran could give a fillip to India’s basmati

shipments that have risen by about a fourth in rupee terms in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (started March 21, 2017), the Indian newspaper Hindu Business Line reported.

Iran is the largest buyer of India’s basmati and accounts for a fourth of India’s annual aromatic rice shipments of around four million tons.

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The country restarted rice import registration this year from Jan. 21 till June 21. The permission was communicated by Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati in a letter to Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari.

According to the letter, the order registrations will be valid for a three-month period and are extendable by a further one month.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Hojjati noted that any rice shipments as per the new orders need to be cleared through Iranian customs by July 22, after which all imports will be banned.

Every year and during the rice harvest season (July-January), the Iranian government bans rice imports in support of local farmers and domestic production.

“Based on the current export trend, we expect basmati shipments to be higher than last year,” said DK Singh, chairman of India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority.

Basmati is the second largest product in Apeda’s export portfolio after buffalo meat and accounts for over 22% of the total shipment value.

In the April-November period of this fiscal year, basmati exports grew 29% to $2.61 billion from $2.02 billion in the corresponding period of last year.

In rupee terms, basmati exports grew 24% to Rs.16,838 crore (1 crore=10 million) during the April-November period from Rs.13,571 crore in the corresponding year-ago period.

In 2016-17, India’s basmati exports stood at 3.98 million tons valued at over $3.22 billion.

However, Indian rice exporters are cautiously optimistic over the shipment prospects with Iran, considering the fact that they have been facing issues related to traces of fungicide in exports to the European Union, another major market.

“We expect basmati shipments this year to be the same as last year or even higher,” said Rajen Sundaresan, executive director of All-India Rice Exporters Association.

Sticking Points “While Iran has reopened its market, it has stopped extending concessional foreign exchange (set at lower rates compared to market prices) to its rice importers,” said Vijay Setia, president of AIREA. The move is aimed at discouraging more rice imports into the West Asian country.

Furthermore, Iran has also been raising objections to the digital phyto-sanitary certificates issued by Indian authorities. The issues have been taken up with India’s Agriculture Ministry and are likely to be resolved soon, sources said.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Iranians consume 3.2 million tons of rice a year while domestic production stands at 2.2 million tons.

“We need imports, but imports that are limited and controlled,” Hojjati has been quoted as saying.

More than 1.05 million tons of semi- and wholly-milled rice worth close to $996 million were imported into Iran during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept.

22), registering an 84.4% and 108.4% surge in weight and value respectively compared with the corresponding period of last year.

Rice imports accounted for 6% and 4.2% of the volume and value of Iran’s overall imports respectively during the six-month period.

Imports are made mainly from the UAE, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey and Iraq.

The two northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran are home to a majority of Iran’s paddy fields.

A total of 81% and 70% of rice harvest in the two provinces respectively were mechanized in the last Iranian year. https://financialtribune.com/articles/economy-business-and-markets/81179/india-expects-rise-inbasmati-exports-as-iran-resumes

Sokoto has good climate for rice farming — Expert

By Nasiru Bello, Sokoto | Publish Date: Feb 1 2018 2:00AM

Irrigation farming system has been identified as one of the sure methods for all year round rice production, the Executive Director, National Cereals Research Institute, Dr Samuel Agboire, has observed.

Dr Agboire, who disclosed this in Sokoto while delivering the keynote address at a two-day sensitisation workshop organised by AfricaRice with theme ‘Applying Innovation System Approach in Rice Value Chain Analysis and Development for Competitive Markets in Nigeria’, said Ttransforming Irrigation Management in Nigeria (TRIMING) was conceived to increase competitive advantage through collaboration in a venture that links producers, millers and marketers.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter The executive director, who was represented by, Dr. Aliyu Umar, said Nigeria can produce high quality rice and rice based products that can withstand the test of time.

In his remarks, an official of the AfricaRice, Dr. Salim Ndindeng, said Sokoto State has less risk climate, which according to him, is suitable for rice farming. ‘‘Sokoto State is blessed with very good soil, a maximum of eight to nine metric tonnes can be gotten from a hectare. So, Sokoto is less risk farming state,’’ he said. https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/sokoto-has-good-climate-for-rice-farming-expert.html

FG approves ₦1.1bn for Anti-Rice Smuggling Vehicles 01.02.2018 at 3:22 pm By NAN The Federal Government has approved ₦1.12 billion for the purchase of 50 operational “anti-rice smuggling” vehicles to check the persistent smuggling of rice into the country, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has disclosed The minister spoke to State House correspondents alongside Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, and the Minister of Mines and Steel Development Kayode Fayemi, on the outcome of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.

Adeosun stated that the procurement of the operational vehicles, which would be deployed to the anti-rice smuggling Task Force, was also meant to stop custom officials from invading markets to seize smuggled rice and harassing traders.

“The second approval was for the purchase of 50 vehicles and they are going to be deployed for an anti-rice smuggling Task Force that is being put together which Customs will be leading.

“As you know, our efforts to become major rice producers had resulted to the revival of local rice growers. But what we found was although that there was 90 per cent reduction in the official import of rice, smuggling has increased and of course our borders are very porous.

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“We believe that to protect our farmers and to protect the investments that the people had made and gone back to the farm government must really act to stem the tide of illegal rice importation via smuggling.

“We felt that it is important we don’t want Customs going to seize rice in the markets. Customs should actually act to stop rice coming in at the border posts and Customs indicated that they need additional vehicles, additional resources as well as of course other more information-driven strategies to stop it,’’ she said.

According to her, the multi-agency task force on anti-rice smuggling which has been in operation since July 2017 had been gathering information on how to check smuggling of rice into the country.

Watch her speak below: https://www.bellanaija.com/2018/02/fg-approves-₦1-1bn-anti-rice-smuggling-vehicles/

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- February 02, 2018 Reuters Staff FEBRUARY 2, 2018 / 1:16 PM Nagpur Foodgrain Prices – APMC/Open Market-February 2, 2018

Nagpur, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Gram and Tuar prices showed weak tendency in Nagpur Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) on poor buying support from local millers amid increased supply from producing belts. Easy condition on NCDEX, downward trend in Madhya Pradesh pulses and high moisture content arrival also pulled down prices.

About 500 bags of gram and 1,400 bags of tuar reported for auction in Nagpur APMC, according to sources.

FOODGRAINS & PULSES

GRAM * Gram varieties ruled steady in open market here on but demand was poor.

TUAR

* Tuar gavarani declined in open market here on poor demand from local traders amid good supply from producing belts.

49 * Batri dal moved down in open market here lack of demand from local traders.

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter

* In Akola, Tuar New – 4,100-4,300, Tuar dal (clean) – 6,400-6,600, Udid Mogar (clean) – 7,600-8,700, Moong Mogar (clean) 7,300-7,600, Gram – 3,500-3,600, Gram Super best – 5,200-5,700

* Wheat, rice and other foodgrain items moved in a narrow range in scattered deals and settled at last levels in weak trading activity.

Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg

FOODGRAINS Gram Auction Gram Pink Auction Tuar Auction Moong Auction Udid Auction Masoor Auction

Available prices 3,100-3,844 n.a.

3,960-4,500 3,900-4,200

4,300-4,500

n.a.

Gram Super Best Bold

Gram Medium Best

2,100-2,600

n.a.

Wheat Mill quality Auction

Gram Super Best

3,100-3,925

3,800-4,500

n.a.

Previous close

2,600-2,800 1,600-1,704 6,000-6,500

n.a.

1,690-1,706 6,000-6,500

n.a.

5,500-5,700

5,500-5,700

Gram Dal Medium

n.a.

n.a

Gram Mill Quality

3,800-3,900

3,800-3,900

Desi gram Raw

3,750-3,800

3,750-3,850

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Gram Kabuli

12,500-13,100

Tuar Fataka Best-New

12,500-13,100

6,400-6,600

Tuar Fataka Medium-New

6,400-6,600

6,100-6,300

Tuar Dal Best Phod-New

6,100-6,300

5,600-5,800

Tuar Dal Medium phod-New Tuar Gavarani New

5,600-5,800

5,500-5,700

4,200-4,500

5,500-5,700

4,250-4,550

Tuar Karnataka

4,550-4,750

4,550-4,750

Masoor dal best

4,800-5,000

4,800-5,000

Masoor dal medium Masoor

4,500-4,700

n.a.

4,500-4,700

n.a.

Moong Mogar bold (New)

7,500-8,000

Moong Mogar Medium

6,500-7,000

Moong dal Chilka

5,800-6,500

7,500-8,000 6,500-7,000

5,800-6,500

Moong Mill quality

n.a.

n.a.

Moong Chamki best

7,500-8,000

7,500-8,000

Udid Mogar best (100 INR/KG) (New) 7,200-7,700

7,200-7,700

Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG)

5,600-7,000

Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) Batri dal (100 INR/KG) Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg)

5,800-6,200

4,700-5,000

5,800-6,200

4,800-5,000

2,550-2,650

Watana Dal (100 INR/KG)

2,550-2,650

3,100-3,200

Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG)

5,600-7,000

4,200-4,300

1,900-2,000

Wheat Mill quality (100 INR/KG)

3,100-3,200 4,200-4,300

1,900-2,000

1,750-1,850

1,750-1,850

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG)

2,150-2,350

Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG)

2,150-2,350

2,300-2,400

2,200-2,400

Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 2,000-2,200 Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG)

n.a.

n.a.

MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,700 MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) Rice BPT best (100 INR/KG)

Rice BPT new (100 INR/KG) Rice Luchai (100 INR/KG)

3,200-3,700

2,400-2,700

3,500-4,000

Rice BPT medium (100 INR/KG)

2,500-2,700

Rice HMT best (100 INR/KG)

3,500-4,000 3,000-3,200 3,300-3,500 2,500-2,700

2,600-2,800

Rice Swarna medium (100 INR/KG) Rice Swarna new (100 INR/KG)

2,400-2,700

3,000-3,200 3,300-3,500

Rice Swarna best (100 INR/KG)

2,600-2,800

2,400-2,500

2,400-2,500

2,400-2,500 2,400-2,500

4,500-4,800

Rice HMT medium (100 INR/KG)

2,000-2,200

4,500-4,800

3,900-4,300

3,900-4,300

Rice HMT new (100 INR/KG)

4,000-4,400

4,000-4,400

Rice Shriram best(100 INR/KG)

5,200-5,600

5,200-5,600

Rice Shriram med (100 INR/KG)

4,700-4,900

4,700-4,900

Rice Shriram new (100 INR/KG) 4,800-5,200

4,800-5,200

Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 9,500-14,000 Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG)

5,000-7,500

Rice Chinnor best 100 INR/KG) 6,100-6,300 Rice Chinnor medium (100 INR/KG) Rice Chinnor new (100 INR/KG)

9,500-13,500

6,100-6,300

5,500-5,700

5,600-5,800

5,000-7,500

5,500-5,700 5,600-5,800

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG)

2,000-2,200 1,800-2,000

2,000-2,100 1,700-2,000

WEATHER (NAGPUR) Maximum temp. 33.4 degree Celsius, minimum temp. 10.6 degree Celsius Rainfall : Nil FORECAST: Mainly clear sky. Maximum and minimum temperature would be around and 33 and 11 degreeCelsius respectively.

Note: n.a.--not available (For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but included in market prices) https://in.reuters.com/article/nagpur-foodgrain/nagpur-foodgrain-prices-open-february-02-2018idINL4N1PS2ZV

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- February 01, 2018 FEBRUARY 1, 2018

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices – APMC/Open Market-February 1, 2018 Nagpur, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Gram and Tuar prices moved down in Nagpur Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) on lack of demand from local millers amid good supply from producing belts. Easy condition in Madhya Pradesh pulses also affected sentiment in limited deals.

About 200 bags of gram and 1,200 bags of tuar reported for auction in Nagpur APMC, according to sources.

FOODGRAINS & PULSES GRAM * Gram mill quality and desi gram raw recovered in open market on good buying support from local traders.

TUAR

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter * Tuar Karnataka reported weak in open market here on lack of demand from local traders amid increased arrival from producing regions. * Moong dal Chilka quoted down in open market here poor buying support from local traders. * In Akola, Tuar New – 4,100-4,300, Tuar dal (clean) – 6,400-6,600, Udid Mogar (clean) – 7,600-8,700, Moong Mogar (clean) 7,300-7,600, Gram – 3,500-3,600, Gram Super best – 5,200-5,700 * Wheat, rice and other foodgrain items moved in a narrow range in scattered deals and settled at last levels in weak trading activity.

Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg FOODGRAINS Available prices Previous close Gram Auction 3,100-3,925 3,100-3,800 Gram Pink Auction n.a.

2,100-2,600 Tuar Auction 3,940-4,500 3,990-4,500 Moong Auction n.a.

3,900-4,200 Udid Auction n.a.

4,300-4,500 Masoor Auction n.a.

2,600-2,800 Wheat Mill quality Auction 1,600-1,704 1,690-1,706 Gram Super Best Bold 6,000-6,500 6,000-6,500 Gram Super Best n.a. n.a.

Gram Medium Best 5,500-5,700 5,500-5,700 Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a Gram Mill Quality 3,800-3,900 3,750-3,850 Desi gram Raw 3,750-3,800 3,700-3,800 Gram Kabuli 12,500-13,100 12,500-13,100 Tuar Fataka Best-New 6,400-6,600 6,400-6,600 Tuar Fataka Medium-New 6,100-6,300 6,100-6,300 Tuar Dal Best Phod-New 5,600-5,800 5,600-5,800 Tuar Dal Medium phod-New 5,500-5,700 5,500-5,700 Tuar Gavarani New 4,250-4,550 4,250-4,550 Tuar Karnataka

4,550-4,750

4,600-4,800

Masoor dal best

4,800-5,000

4,800-5,000

Masoor dal medium Masoor

4,500-4,700

n.a.

4,500-4,700

n.a.

Moong Mogar bold (New)

7,500-8,000

Moong Mogar Medium

6,500-7,000

Moong dal Chilka

5,800-6,500

7,500-8,000 6,500-7,000

5,900-6,600

Moong Mill quality

n.a.

n.a.

Moong Chamki best

7,500-8,000

7,500-8,000

Udid Mogar best (100 INR/KG) (New) 7,200-7,700

7,200-7,700

Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG)

5,600-7,000

5,600-7,000

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Daily Global, Regional and Local Rice E-Newsletter Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 5,800-6,200 5,800-6,200 Batri dal (100 INR/KG) 4,800-5,000 4,800-5,000 Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 2,550-2,650 2,550-2,650 Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 3,100-3,200 3,100-3,200 Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 4,200-4,300 4,200-4,300 Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 1,900-2,000 1,900-2,000 Wheat Mill quality (100 INR/KG) 1,750-1,850 1,750-1,850 Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 2,150-2,350 2,150-2,350 Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,300-2,400 2,200-2,400 Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 2,000-2,200 2,000-2,200 Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.

MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,700 3,200-3,700 MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,700 2,400-2,700 Rice BPT best (100 INR/KG) 3,500-4,000 3,500-4,000 Rice BPT medium (100 INR/KG) 3,000-3,200 3,000-3,200 Rice BPT new (100 INR/KG) 3,300-3,500 3,300-3,500 Rice Luchai (100 INR/KG) 2,500-2,700 2,500-2,700 Rice Swarna best (100 INR/KG) 2,600-2,800 2,600-2,800 Rice Swarna medium (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,500 2,400-2,500 Rice Swarna new (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,500 2,400-2,500 Rice HMT best (100 INR/KG) 4,500-4,800 4,500-4,800 Rice HMT medium (100 INR/KG) 3,900-4,300 3,900-4,300 Rice HMT new (100 INR/KG) 4,000-4,400 4,000-4,400 Rice Shriram best(100 INR/KG) 5,200-5,600 5,200-5,600 Rice Shriram med (100 INR/KG) 4,700-4,900 4,700-4,900 Rice Shriram new (100 INR/KG) 4,800-5,200 4,800-5,200 Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 9,500-14,000 9,500-13,500 Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,000-7,500 5,000-7,500 Rice Chinnor best 100 INR/KG) 6,100-6,300 6,100-6,300 Rice Chinnor medium (100 INR/KG) 5,500-5,700 5,500-5,700 Rice Chinnor new (100 INR/KG) 5,600-5,800 5,600-5,800 Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 2,000-2,200 2,000-2,100 Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 1,800-2,000 1,700-2,000 WEATHER (NAGPUR) Maximum temp. 33.9 degree Celsius, minimum temp. 10.7 degree Celsius Rainfall : Nil FORECAST: Mainly clear sky. Maximum and minimum temperature would be around and 32 and 11 degree Celsius respectively.

Note: n.a.--not available (For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, butincluded in market prices)

https://in.reuters.com/article/nagpur-foodgrain/nagpur-foodgrain-prices-open-february-01-2018idINL4N1PR3G4 55

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