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1. 10th December , 2013
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3. TOP Contents - Tailored for YOU
Latest News Headlines…
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Rice varieties - Here’s help for 2014
Rice pledging scheme continues despite House dissolution
Chinese exports to Vietnam: greater volumes, cheaper prices
Rice growers face loss of $80m PNG market
Gov't rice inventory dips below minimum required amid post-disaster relief
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open-Dec 10
Bengal’s aromatic Gobindo Bhog rice attracts more farmers
Rice plantings could be on the rise in 2014
NEWS DETAILS:
Rice varieties - Here’s help for 2014
Dec. 10, 2013Farm Press Editorial Staff | Delta Farm Press
Decisions about varieties are some of the most critical choices rice farmers will make, and those decisions have
to be made early.LSU AgCenter provides help in its just released Rice Varieties and Management
Tips publication.Use the information in the publication to help determine which rice varieties are best-suited to
your particular location and growing conditions.
Rice pledging scheme continues despite House dissolution
Tuesday, 10 December 2013 By MCOT - See more at: http://www.pattayamail.com/business/rice-pledgingscheme-continues-despite-house-dissolution-32865#sthash.1n4RlodP.dpufBANGKOK, Dec 9 - Dissolution of
Thailand's lower house of parliament will not interrupt the continuity of the rice pledging scheme introduced by
the Yingluck Shinawatra administration, according to Internal Trade Department Director General Somchart
Soithong.Mr Somchart said his department would carry on its highly-criticised rice-pledging programme
despite concern that the House Dissolution on Monday would affect its continuity. He explained that the
Cabinet's authorised timeframe for 2013-14 harvests would finish in February next year.
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4. The department will leave it to the new
government to decide whether or not
the country should carry on the second
round of the pledging programme.Mr
Somchart said the government bought
some six million tonnes of paddy since
October 1 and so far Bt 50 billion has
been paid to registered farmers. The
bank is now seeking to receive more
repayments from the Finance Ministry
in order to pay all the farmers.The
Commerce Ministry has, meanwhile,
expedited distribution of rice in stock to
keep the cash flow. (MCOT online
news)
Chinese exports to Vietnam: greater volumes, cheaper prices
TUOITRENEWS
UPDATED : 12/10/2013 12:04 GMT + 7
It is easy to explain why Chinese
imports
are
flooding
the
Vietnamese market: they can be
delivered quickly, in huge
quantities, and at dirt-cheap
prices.While
agriculture
is
Vietnam’s economic strength, the
sector is now also full of produce
imported from China, not to
mention a heavy reliance on
Chinese machinery, seeds, and
fertilizers.Vietnam spent some
$40 million to import up to
15,000 tons of rice seeds from
China every year, according to the Department of Cultivation. This is equal to the value of exporting 100,000
tons of high-quality rice.The country also imports a huge amount of fertilizer from China, with the total import
turnover in the year to October topped $703.4 million for 2 million tons of fertilizer.
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5. Cheap
Fruit and vegetable imports from China to Vietnam slowed down in the second quarter of this year, following
news of several food scandals unearthed in the country.But the volume of Chinese produce exported to VN has
returned to its normal track in the last months of the year, with wholesalers revealing that Chinese produce like
carrots, pumpkins, and cabbage are arriving in Vietnam in huge quantities on a daily basis thanks to reduced
prices.While Chinese carrots fetched VND3,800 a kg in May, prices dropped to only VND2,500 a kg in
October. Meanwhile, cabbage prices slumped 48.5 percent from earlier this year to only VND1,700 a
kg.―Import prices slumped while selling prices on the market remain unchanged or even increased, enabling
traders to rake in greater profits,‖ said Cuong, a wholesaler at the Tam Binh agriculture wholesaling market in
Thu Duc District.Chinese produce has managed to re-penetrate Vietnam, taking advantage of the fact that prices
of produce imported from Thailand, New Zealand, and the US strongly surged in the third quarter.
Fast, plentiful
The wholesaling market of Hoc Mon is always busy, even at 1 in the morning.At 1am, container trucks arrive at
the market and traders immediately rush out to unload myriad of cartons containing citrus fruits, pears, and
apples. On the cartons are labels covered with Chinese characters.―Each container truck will unload at least 100
– 300 cartons at each booth in the market,‖ Ngoc, a wholesaler, said.There are traders who source as many as
1,000 cartons per night, but all wholesalers here manage to sell their goods by morning.Each fruit carton weighs
8kg, some of which must have been frozen months before being exported to Vietnam.The distributors also make
it faster to transfer the produce to the Mekong Delta.―While traders from the Mekong Delta have to come to
wholesaling markets in HCMC to source the fruits, the container trucks now also come to the delta, reducing the
transporting cost,‖ a wholesaler revealed.Chinese goods thus continue to win the market in the Mekong Delta,
and are now rampant in the area.
In snap: Chinese fruits are seen on sale at Hoc Mon wholesaling market in Ho Chi Minh City December 8,
2013.
Rice growers face loss of $80m PNG market
From THE AUSTRALIAN
Mon 09 Dec 2013
Topics:Australia
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6. SYDNEY, Australia --- Australia's rice growers are facing the threatened loss of their biggest overseas
market, in Papua New Guinea -- worth about AUD$80 million a year, almost a quarter of the entire industry's
earnings.The government will be quizzing PNG's ministers at the annual Joint Ministerial Forum, in Canberra
on Wednesday, about the prospect of Indonesia supplanting Australia as the country's core rice supplier.For
decades, debate has raged within PNG about whether the country should invest in its own rice industry to
replace imports.
Although rice has become a staple of the diet, it remains far behind traditional carbohydrates such as sweet
potato and taro, and pilot projects and village plots have not yet expanded domestic production beyond a
small fraction of imports.The PNG government, however, decided to ramp up import-substitution plans,
inviting in June expressions of interest in a AUD$2 billion, 100,000ha project in Central province, the area
around Port Moresby.The winner -- against competitors including Trukai, the company through which
Australian rice growers market and also produce, on a small scale, in PNG -- was Naima Agroindustry.This
company is seeking a 20-year tax holiday, and the imposition of an 80 per cent duty on all rice that it does not
import -- boosting consumer prices by an estimated 60 per cent and effectively locking Trukai and the other
major suppliers, two Thai brands and a Vietnamese brand, out of the PNG market.Naima is a subsidiary of
Indonesia-based Mulia, a company whose principal is Djoko Tjandra.Tjandra, 62, was last year given
citizenship in PNG, where he is now known as Joe Chan, at a secret ceremony, after fleeing by private jet
from Jakarta when he had been ordered to appear before a court there in a corruption case for which he was
jailed in absentia for two years.
His project is supported by Agriculture Minister Puka Temu and Transport Minister Ano Pala, both of whose
constituencies are in Central province.But influential National Planning Minister Charles Abel said last week
that while the government encouraged locally produced rice, "arrangements should never undermine genuine
competition".He said that PNG had learned from past monopoly deals involving cement, fuel, canned tuna
and sugar that "the proposed benefits from such arrangements failed to materialise, or the costs far
outweighed the benefits".The PNG National Research Institute has said that the proposed creation of a semimonopoly would cause a price hike for rice products and put most existing market players out of
business.Trukai, which is the foremost of such players, employs about 1000 people, and has invested about
$87m in PNG.
Gov't rice inventory dips below minimum required amid post-disaster relief
By: Orti Despuez, InterAksyon.com
December 9, 2013 5:31 PM
MANILA - The government today reported that its rice inventory dropped below its minimum buffer stock
requirement last month.The disclosure comes after the National Food Authority (NFA) began distributing for
free rice in areas hardest hit by Typhoon 'Yolanda'.In a report, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) said
the country's rice inventory at the start of November fell 12.4 percent to 2.44 million metric tons from last year's
2.78 million, but was 38 percent more than last October's 1.77 million. At last month's level, the country's
inventory is enough to last two months.Nearly 60 percent of the country's rice inventory was stored in
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7. households, enough to last for the next 43 days. Another fourth of the country's stock -- which could last 19
days -- was held by commercial warehouse operators.
The NFA's share of the country's inventory stood at 14.5 percent and could meet requirements for the next 10
days -- or well below the 15-day requirement --- after dropping nine percent from the October level.Since news
of Yolanda's devastation came to light, the NFA has begun distributing rice as relief, giving up its role as a price
stabilizer in the market for the grain and causing spikes in some typhoon-hit areas.
Agriculture Assistant Secretary Dante Delima blamed the drop
in NFA's share of the country's rice inventory on "abnormal
consumption" in typhoon-hit areas.―At any given day, the NFA
should have a 15-day buffer. But the abnormal consumption,
since the people and those who are conducting relief operations
are buying from the government warehouses, have pulled down
security buffer,‖ Delima, who is also coordinator of the
National Rice Program, said.The NFA Council recently
approved the importation of another 500,000 metric tons of
rice. Vietnam has since won the tender, with the initial 200,000
up for delivery this month to replenish the grains agency's
inventory.
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open-Dec 10
Tue Dec 10, 2013 2:13pm IST
Nagpur, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Gram prices in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and Marketing Committee
(APMC) reported strong on increased demand from local millers amid weak supply from producing
regions. Sharp rise in Madhya Pradesh gram prices and reported demand from South-based millers
also fuelled prices here, according to sources.
*
*
*
*
FOODGRAINS & PULSES
GRAM
* Desi gram raw recovered in open market on renewed demand from local traders amid
tight supply from producing belts.
TUAR
* Tuar varieties ruled steady in open market on lack of demand matching the demand and
supply position.
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8. * Moong and udid varieties reported down in open market on poor buying support from
local traders amid profit-taking selling by stockists at higher level.
* In Akola, Tuar - 4,300-4,450, Tuar dal - 6,700-6,700, Udid at 4,800-5,100,
Udid Mogar (clean) - 5,700-6,000, Moong - 6,800-7,200, Moong Mogar
(clean) 7,700-7,900, Gram - 3,300-3,500, Gram Super best bold - 4,400-4,600
for 100 kg.
* Wheat, rice and other commodities remained steady in open market in thin trading
activity, according to sources.
Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg
FOODGRAINS
Available prices Previous close
Gram Auction
2,520-3,050
2,500-2,900
Gram Pink Auction
n.a.
2,100-2,600
Tuar Auction
n.a.
3,800-4,050
Moong Auction
n.a.
4,300-4,500
Udid Auction
n.a.
4,300-4,500
Masoor Auction
n.a.
2,600-2,800
Gram Super Best Bold
4,200-4,400
4,200-4,400
Gram Super Best
n.a.
Gram Medium Best
3,550-3,900
3,550-3,900
Gram Dal Medium
n.a.
n.a.
Gram Mill Quality
3,500-3,550
3,500-3,550
Desi gram Raw
3,050-3,150
3,000-3,100
Gram Filter Yellow
n.a.
n.a.
Gram Kabuli
7,700-10,000
7,700-10,000
Gram Pink
7,700-8,100
7,700-8,100
Tuar Fataka Best
6,800-7,000
6,800-7,000
Tuar Fataka Medium
6,400-6,600
6,400-6,600
Tuar Dal Best Phod
6,200-6,300
6,200-6,300
Tuar Dal Medium phod
5,600-5,900
5,600-5,900
Tuar Gavarani
4,200-4,300
4,200-4,300
Tuar Karnataka
4,500-4,600
4,500-4,600
Tuar Black
7,000-7,100
7,000-7,100
Masoor dal best
5,400-5,500
5,200-5,300
Masoor dal medium
5,100-5,200
4,800-4,900
Masoor
n.a.
n.a.
Moong Mogar bold
8,200-8,600
8,500-8,700
Moong Mogar Medium best
7,800-8,000
8,000-8,200
Moong dal super best
7,200-7,400
7,300-7,500
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9. Moong dal Chilka
6,700-6,900
6,800-7,000
Moong Mill quality
n.a.
n.a.
Moong Chamki best
7,000-7,400
7,200-7,400
Udid Mogar Super best (100 INR/KG) 6,500-6,800
6,700-6,900
Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,800-6,000
5,900-6,300
Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG)
5,000-5,600
5,300-5,800
Batri dal (100 INR/KG)
4,000-4,200
4,000-4,200
Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg)
3,000-3,100
3,000-3,100
Watana Dal (100 INR/KG)
3,250-3,350
3,250-3,350
Watana White (100 INR/KG)
3,100-3,200
3,100-3,200
Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 5,700-6,300
5,700-6,300
Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG)
1,700-1,800
1,700-1,800
Wheat Mill quality(100 INR/KG) 1,700-1,750
1,700-1,750
Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG)
1,700-1,900
1,700-1,900
Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,000-2,450
2,000-2,450
Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 1,950-2,050
1,950-2,050
Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a.
n.a.
MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,100-3,600
3,100-3,600
MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,600-2,900
2,600-2,900
Wheat 147 (100 INR/KG)
1,500-1,600
1,500-1,600
Wheat Best (100 INR/KG)
1,600-1,700
1,600-1,700
Rice BPT (100 INR/KG)
3,200-3,400
3,200-3,400
Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG)
1,850-1,900
1,850-1,900
Rice Swarna Best (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,600
2,400-2,600
Rice Swarna Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,200-2,400
2,200-2,400
Rice HMT (100 INR/KG)
4,300-4,500
4,300-4,500
Rice HMT Shriram (100 INR/KG) 4,800-5,200
4,800-5,200
Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 11,000-13,500
11,000-13,500
Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 6,300-7,600
6,300-7,600
Rice Chinnor (100 INR/KG)
5,500-5,800
5,500-5,800
Rice Chinnor Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,100-5,300
5,100-5,300
Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG)
1,450-1,600
1,450-1,600
Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG)
1,750-1,850
1,750-1,850
WEATHER (NAGPUR)
Maximum temp. 30.2 degree Celsius (86.3 degree Fahrenheit), minimum temp.
10.5 degree Celsius (50.9 degree Fahrenheit)
Humidity: Highest - n.a., lowest - n.a.
Rainfall : nil
FORECAST: Mainly clear sky. Maximum and Minimum temperature likely to be around 31 and 11 degree
Celsius respectively.
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10. Note: n.a.--not available
(For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but
included in market prices.)
Bengal’s aromatic Gobindo Bhog rice attracts more farmers
KOLKATA, DEC 9:
The premium aromatic variety Gobindo Bhog rice is attracting more farmers in West Bengal. More farmers are
taking up its cultivation since its gives higher productivity and remuneration.Some 600 farmers have sown the
rice for the first time this crop season (August-November). This has increased the number of farmers opting for
the aromatic rice to over 1,800.The Bidhan Chandra Kishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), through a programme,
launched since 2009, has extended cultivation of the rice to new areas and promoted it among a larger number
of farmers.―Until the last (2012) crop year, 1,261 farmers were included for adoption of cultivation of the
variety on a total area of around 450 acres (1,326 bighas) across six districts of South Bengal,‖ Prasanta Kumar
Biswas, one of the professors, who are involved in the initiative, told Business Line.
Growing area
According to a study by the BCKV, 80 per cent of the rice produced is consumed locally, while 20 per cent is
exported. In fact, more can be exported if production increases in view of farmers being unable to meet rising
demand.―Hyderabad is one of the primary markets for Gobinda Bhog outside West Bengal. The finest quality is
in demand in Andhra Pradesh for biriyani. Hindu festivities in the eastern and northen India also see rise in
demand for the variety,‖ Biswas said.The area under cultivation for this variety is expected to go up further by
over 50 per cent this crop year compared with last year, Biswas said.The agricultural university also plans to
reach out to farmers in the backward regions of Purulia and West Midnapore districts.
―Apart from providing free seeds to the farmers, we also assist them in processing and sale of the premium rice
variety,‖ Biswas said.Having started the programme with less than 100 farmers in Nadia district in 2009, BCKV
has brought in 1,800 farmers across 18 blocks of the South Bengal districts of Murshidabad, Burdwan,
Hooghly, Nadia, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas.The area under cultivation has increased 10-fold in
2012 from a mere 45 acres four years ago.―A lone farmer in Sagar block of South 24 Parganas, who started
growing Gobindo Bhog on three acres in 2012, influenced others this season.According to Biswas, production
at Sagar is expected to increase substantially this year with more area being added.
Better price
Gopinath Mukherjee, a farmer in Murshidabad, is one who has gained from growing the aromatic variety in
terms of price and yield.―There has been a 30 per cent increase in the market price of Gobindo Bhog since
2009,‖ he said.Paddy productivity of this premium variety has gone up by more than 40 per cent to about 1.3
tonnes an acre, he said.
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11. Currently, this variety fetches a price of Rs 2,800-3,000 for a 60-kg bag.
ayan.pramanik@thehindu.co.in
(This article was published on December 9, 2013)
Keywords: aromatic Gobindo Bhog rice, Bidhan Chandra Kishi Viswavidyalaya
Rice plantings could be on the rise in 2014
Dec. 10, 2013Forrest Laws | Delta Farm Press
BLAKE GERARD, left, rice producer from Cape Girardeau, Mo., and vice chairman of the U.S. Rice Producers Group, producer Chuck Earnest of
Steele, Mo., and Bill Anderson, “Cousin Carl” on Radio Station 106.1 in Cape Girardeau, welcomed producers to the USA Rice Outlook Conference in
St. Louis.
Arkansas growers could plant
nearly 1.5 million acres of
rice in 2014 if more normal
weather conditions return and
corn and soybean prices and
production costs continue to
soften over the next three or
four months.If that forecast
pans out, U.S. rice acreage
could rise by about 400,000
acres to 2.8 million in the
coming year because of the
dominant position Arkansas
occupies in the Southern Rice Belt and in total U.S. rice plantings, according to speakers at the USA Rice
Outlook Conference in St. Louis.
―Corn prices are currently basing, and the basing process is likely to continue beyond most planting decisions,‖
said Robert Coats, Extension economist and professor — economics with the University of Arkansas. Coats,
who gave the state outlook report for Arkansas, was referring to a chart showing monthly corn futures prices
dating back to 1970.Coats said old crop corn prices are likely to remain volatile with the potential of moving
back to $6 per bushel. ―It’s more likely that prices will go lower before moving higher and that the new crop
year marketing range will be between $3.50 and $6.00 per bushel.‖
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12. Soybean prices are also likely to move lower before moving higher in the coming months, with new crop
soybeans possibly trading in a range between $10 and $16 per hundredweight.Higher corn and soybean prices
over the last five seasons have led to dramatic shifts in Mid-South crop acreage out of cotton and rice to corn
and, to a lesser extent, soybeans. At this time last year, corn was selling for more than $7 per bushel due to the
1012 drought in the Midwest.Arkansas growers finished with a harvested rice acreage of 1.07 million in 2013.
Not all of that was due to high corn prices.
An unusually wet spring resulted in more than 300,000 acres either failed or prevented from being planted.
Under more normal conditions, Arkansas could have planted 1.358 million acres of rice, Coats said.Given the
demand outlook for higher quality rice, lower corn futures and lower fertilizer and fuel costs, Arkansas growers
could plant 1.319 million acres of long grain rice and 133,000 acres of medium grain in 2014. That would be up
412,000 acres or 36 percent above 2013.―The U.S. rice industry cannot be competitive in the global low quality
rice market,‖ says Coats, ―but can compete in the high quality market through rice identity preservation.
Producing rice with world class physical and chemical grain properties and priced accordingly — this is needed
to turn the U.S. rice industry to a growth industry.‖Despite the unusual weather conditions that delayed and
prevented planting, Arkansas farmers produced record rice yields in 2013 with an estimated state average of
7,550 pounds per acre. That would be 80 pounds per acre or about 1 percent more than in 2012 and 780 pounds
or 10 percent more than in 2011.
Louisiana
Louisiana growers also produced record yields in 2013, harvesting an estimated statewide yield average of
7,200 pounds per acre. That would be up from the previous high of 6,600 pounds.―We think we have set a real,
significant record in Louisiana this year,‖ said Johnny Saichuk, Extension rice specialist with the LSU
AgCenter. ―From the conversations we’ve had with our farmers we think we may be around 7,200, second crop
included, well above anything before.‖Louisiana’s second crop acreage also expanded,‖ he said. ―We had over
130,000 acres of second crop rice, which is one of our highest totals in a number of years. Someone asked me if
we were through harvesting for the year, and I don’t know. I do know we cut our last verification field on Nov.
30, the latest we’ve ever done.
‖Saichuk said he believes Louisiana’s rice acreage will be about the same in 2014 as it was in 2013 with the
possible exception of an increase in hybrid rice, which appears to be gaining ground in Louisiana because of its
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13. higher yield potential.Another development he reported at the Rice Outlook Conference was the growth in
special purpose rice in 2013. Louisiana growers harvested 30,000 acres, most of it the Jazzman 2 line of
aromatic rice. Growers also planted the Jazzman, Sabine and Hidalgo varieties.
Mississippi
Mississippi’s rice acreage could recover to about 200,000 in 2014 because of a projected decline in fertilizer
and fuel prices and rice prices becoming more competitive with those offered for corn and soybeans.―We’re
seeing a much more favorable price outlook for rice compared to corn and soybeans than what we’ve seen in
the last several years,‖ said Larry Falconer, Extension agricultural economist with Mississippi State University,
―Of course, prices are only part of the equation. When you look at cost of production estimates, our fertilizer
estimates are down about $30 an acre and $7 or $8 for diesel fuel for pumping costs. With rice yields 6 percent
to 7 percent higher this year, it looks like rice could be much more competitive than with the cost projections
we were using last year.―Based on decreases in fertilizer and fuel costs and the futures prices we have now and
talking to Dr. (Tim) Walker, Extension rice specialist with Mississippi State, and to producers, we think it’s
possible rice acres could recover back to the 200,000 mark that we saw prior to the last two or three years (from
2013’s 130,000 acres).‖
Missouri
Missouri’s rice acres are ―expected to be level to slightly higher‖ in 2014, according to Trent Haggard, director
of the University of Missouri’s Fisher Delta Research Center in Portageville, Mo.Missouri farmers also
struggled with weather delays during planting and harvesting, finally finishing with an estimated 150,000
harvested acres of rice for 2013. ―On Oct. 5, we were only 50 percent harvested,‖ said Haggard. ―That is
unusually late for our growers.‖Over the years, the trend-line for yield increases in the Missouri Bootheel has
been 62 pounds per acre. Farmers will probably average 6,950 pounds per acre in 2013 or only a little above
2012. ―We probably will fall short of that 62-pound per acre trend line in 2013 because of all the weather
problems we encountered in 2013.‖
Texas
Growers in Texas did not experience the planting delays those in the Mid-South did, but they were impacted by
weather. And the situation shows little sign of improving.A few days before the Rice Outlook Conference, the
Lower Colorado River Authority, the agency which oversees the delivery of water from reservoirs around
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14. Austin, Texas, to the Texas Rice Belt announced new regulations.Texas producers planted about 130,000 acres
of rice in 2012 and 2013, down 170,000 acres from their peak, because of the reduced water allocations for rice.
The new regulation, which lowers the trigger for release of water to the rice area to 850,000 acre feet, could
mean even less water.―The outlook for rice in Texas is rather dim for 2014,‖ said Mo Way, Extension
entomologist with the Texas A&M University Rice Research Station in Beaumont, Texas.
California
Water availability could also be an issue in California, according to Chris Greer, Extension advisor with the
University of California. 2013’s harvested acreage was almost the same as 2012, 556,000 acres. 2014 could be
from 450,000 to 550,000 depending on water availability.―It’s obvious water is important to all of us, whether
in California or Texas or Mississippi,‖ he said. ―Basically, the state of California is not in a great shape for
water. Looking to 2014, we’re going to have to cross our fingers and hope we get something.―I realize 450,000
to 550,000 acres is a broad range, but we don’t know how much snow we may get so we don’t know what we’re
going to be looking at as far as water allocations. We could have water sales. If rice prices are low, farmers may
decide it’s more attractive to sell their water than to plant rice.‖
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