12th August, 2014 Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine

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com
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12
th
August, 2014

TOP Contents - Tailored for YOU
Latest News Headlines
SONA boasting on rice imports spikes prices in world
market
During Drought, Once-Mighty Texas Rice Belt Fades Away
6 foreign firms join rice imports auction
3 m tonnes of rice 'is below standard'
China signs 100,000-tonne rice import agreement
TABLE-India Grain Prices - Delhi - Aug 12
India cuts monsoon rains forecast but says no drought
New rice variety to improve yields
Chinas refusal of cross-border rice shipments has little
impact on Vietnam: experts

News Detail
SONA boasting on rice imports spikes prices in
world market
By Christine F. Herrera | Aug. 12, 2014 at 12:01am
PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino IIIs announcement during his State of the Nation Address that he had
authorized the importation of 500,000 metric tons of rice to bring down local prices has backfired, with the
world market price going up by $15 a ton, a Palace source said Monday. The National Food Authority buffer
stocks are good only for 12 to 14 days, driving local prices for the grain up to P50 a kilogram, while the price of

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NFA rice has also climbed from P25 a kilo during the Arroyo administration to the present P27 to P32 a kilo,
the Palace source added.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said this is also the first time in history that the government
would import rice at 15 percent brokens, much more expensive than the usual 25 percent brokens. With high-
grade 15 percent brokens, unscrupulous traders and NFA officials have connived to re-bag NFA rice and passed
them off as commercial rice that sells at P2,200 per 50-kilo bag of rice, the Palace source told the Manila
Standard. When President Aquino in his SONA said he gave NFA a standby authority to buy another 500,000
metric tons of rice on top of the 500,000 metric tons scheduled for bidding on Aug. 25, 2014,international prices
quickly rose, the source said.
Web posted prices rose for 15 percent brokens by $10 per ton and for 25 percent brokens from $400 to $415,
or as much as $15 per ton in the last week of July. President Aquino delivered his SONA on July 28, the
source said.Brokens refer to rice that are not whole grains, broken in the milling of palay into rice.Zero to 5
percent brokens is the premium grade and commands the highest prices. Most commercial grades in the
Philippine market are 10-15 percent brokens, branded as Sinandomeng, Dinorado, and Angelica, and sell for
P44 to P50 per kilo.Citing official government records, the source said that in April this year, NFA bought
800,000 metric tons of 15 percent brokens rice from Vietnam. Of the amount, about 450,000 arrived on July
15.Now, the 800,000 metric tons of 15 percent brokens in April 2014 plus 500,000 metric tons in August 2014
equals 1.3 million metric tons.
The USDA again tagged the Philippines as the biggest importer of rice in the world, easing out Indonesia and
Bangladesh, the Palace source said.Then PNoy [Aquino] authorized standby 500,000 MT more to fight the
hoarders so that becomes 1.8 million MT, back to 2008 levels. All because the Department of Agriculture
claimed we were self-sufficient, but this turned out to be a joke, the source said.The source said the countrys
economic managers panicked when they learned that the price difference between 25 percent and 15 percent
brokens is about $25 to $30 per metric metric ton.That was the alleged overprice charged against the NFAs
2013 imports from Vietnam of a two-part 705,700 MT purchase under former NFA Administrator Orlan
Calayag, the source said.It was Calayag that imported the 800,000 MT of 15 percent brokens in April, a few
weeks before he was to be replaced. It was dubbed a midnight importation and Calayag resigned.
Calayag and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala are now facing plunder charges before the Ombudsman due
to alleged overpricing in government-to-government rice importation.NFA bought 800,000 MT at $439 per ton
also from Vietnam, even lower than its 2013 contract of $461.77 per MT for 705,700 MT, the source said.
In April 2014, low prices prevailed in the international rice trade with only $360-370 per metric ton for 15
percent brokens, $335 for 25 percent brokens, the source said.The current skyrocketing of prices can thus be
traced to the insistence of the DA to impress the public that it is fast achieving rice sufficiency, even making a
big fuss about exporting a few metric tons of rice [400 metric tons good to fill no more than three containers] in
2013. By the third quarter of 2013, however, economic managers were spooked by the surge in rice prices and


the NFA was force to turn to importation, but it was too late to change the real supply and demand situation, the
source said. And when they followed up with their April 2014 purchase of 800,000 MT more, with Vietnam
unable to deliver on time, the price spiral had become uncontrollable, the source said.
The source said the new rice czar, Francis Pangilinan, and the new NFA Administrator Arthur Juan raided a few
private warehouses and discovered clear evidence of a lucrative racket that has victimized the public with the
highest rice prices since the 2008 world rice crisis.But how many can warehouses they raid? There are some
20,000 rice bodegas, big and small, in the country, not counting even houses which are also used by the
unscrupulous traders, the source said.Worse, when raids are undertaken, the public may panic and increase
their buying of NFA rice, which is a cheap P32 per kilogram. This would put more pressure on NFAs
dwindling inventory, especially since Vietnam is having a hard time complying with their shipping
commitments, the source said.The source said since rice prices were already going up since mid-2013, the
NFA rice inventory was being depleted.Poor consumers bought NFA rice, even if it did not taste as good as
commercial grade, because they could not afford P40 rice and higher, the source said.
NFA rice sold at P27 retail and the difference had become too big, the source added.Initially, NFA sold its
better, domestically bought rice at P32 a kilo. For many years, NFA maintained only a single price P25 from
2009 to 2010. In 2012, NFA adjusted this to P27 a kilo but commercial rice was sold at P32-36 a kilo.So most
consumers, except the very poor, bought commercial grade, which was only P5 higher. When the difference hit
P10 and up, they shifted to NFA rice, and the agencys inventory, already low because of the policy of
importing unrealistic low levels, just to show the country was achieving self sufficiency, went down to a
perilous 12-14-day levels just before the lean months of 2014, the source said.With the 800,000 metric tons in
April 2014 imports, which were 15 percent brokens, NFA sold this at P30 in wholesale, P32 retail.
The 25 percent brokens remained at P27 retail. But since their low grade rice was low in stock, and the April
imports of commercial grade 15 percent brokens was delayed in being shipped to the Philippines, unscrupulous
traders took advantage, the source said.The gap between P32 and commercial prices of P44-P50 was so big
and was a golden opportunity for more profit. They connived with NFA officials, high and middle managers, to
divert NFA rice to the commercial market, the source said. The source said NFA warehouse managers and
provincial managers were given overrides by the traders to sell to them instead of the regular NFA retailers.At
P30 per kilo, NFA was selling to retailers at P1,500 per 50-kilo bag. Since the commercial market was P2,200
per bag, and higher, traders would earn a gross mark-up of P700 per bag.How much of this mark-up was
shared by NFA warehouse managers, provincial and regional directors? the source said.Pangilinan has vowed
to probe the alleged diversion and re-bagging of rice from NFA warehouses to unscrupulous traders.
During Drought, Once-Mighty Texas Rice Belt Fades Away
AUGUST 12, 2014 | 6:00 AM
BY DYLAN BADDOUR


DYLAN BADDOUR / STATEIMPACT TEXAS
In the floodplain, several inches of fine silty mud sit atop thick, heavy clay. The clay is the finest dust eroded by the river, carried until this point then
deposited as the river spreads out across the prairie. The silt is a thick rich mixture of sediment from upstream. The land in the floodplain naturally
holds water very well.
In 2012, some farming districts on the Lower Colorado River were cut off
from water for irrigation for the first time. Reservoirs were too low to flood
tens of thousands of rice fields. Some asked, Why would anyone be
farming rice in Texas in the first place?
The answer is long, and it begins with the fact that parts of Texas havent
always been dry. For farmers like Ronald Gertson, who remembers driving
a tractorthrough rice fields as a child, recent years have been hard to bear.
Its just unbelievable that its been so bad that we have had three
unprecedented years in a row, and I recognize some experts say we could
have a couple of decades like this. I hope and pray thats not the case, says
Gertson, a rice farmer, chair of numerous water-related committees and,
in recent years, unofficial spokesman for the Texas Rice Belt. If that is the
case then yeah, this whole prairie is going to change.
But it has already changed.
Following the Colorado River, heading south on State Highway 71, the hilly woods of Central Texas give way
to a vibrant green coastal flatland about a hundred miles from the coast. This is the Rice Belt. Almost all of the
land here has been tilled for farming, but along the rivers banks, the old biome is still evident. Tall billowing
trees and a thicket of vegetation grows enveloped by vines in the deep, squishy mud.

DYLAN BADDOUR/STATEIMPACT TEXAS
I am extremely concerned about this tradition," says rice farmer Ron Gertson.
This is the states youngest land a vast accumulation of
sediment, slowly left behind during ages of floods. From the
high Hill Country, the Colorado River carried dirt down to
the flatlands, extending Texas coastline over millions of
years. The region was literally created by water.
The floodplain of the Colorado River Basin was a part of
Stephen F. Austins first land grant from the Mexican
government, and it was here that some of the first pioneers
from Europe and the United States came to settle Tejas. They
found a soggy marsh where the Karankawa people procured
vital mosquito repellant from the fat of local alligators, and they saw massive floods that covered miles of
prairie with water from rains in higher parts of the state.


COLORADO COUNTY CHRONICLES, VOL 1, BY COLORADO COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION, 1986
A saloon in Garwood, cerca 1910, a few years after it was founded by the Red Bluff Irrigation Company
The region was a collection of humble backwoods settlements
until the turn of the 20
th
century, when rice farming was
brought over from Louisiana. Rice, suited to the fine
shallow mud of the floodplain,brought the region to
life with business, and the Texas Rice Belt was born. In 1901,
the first pumping station was built on the Colorado River
in Colorado County and the town of Garwood was founded
to suit. By 1914, there were stations
in Whartonand Matagorda counties, and hundreds of miles of
canals were dug to move water across the prairie.
Today I believe it can truthfully be said that rice farming has
done more to redeem this low level and country of the Texas
coast than any other branch of agriculture, wrote Rice I ndustry, a Houston-based magazine in 1906. As rice
requires more water than anything else to grow it, here was a crop and a country that were adapted to each
other.
Today that is not the case; the Rice Belt needs water, and there isnt much to go around.
Born 1931 in Garwood, Anthony Kallina remembers driving a Model A Ford on the one-lane dirt road that
eventually became highway 71.

It used to be that every time thered be heavy rains anywhere around
Austin, the river would come out of bank. Of course, Garwood is on
the high bank so we didnt really flood, but right across the ridge the
river might be a mile and a half wide. In earlier days, it was even wider
than that, he says. It hasnt been out in a good while now. We
havent had many rains, and theyve been keeping the floods up above
in the lakes.He guesses that the last big flood was around 20 years
ago. Heres an important detail to understand the drastic change: When
Kallina was born, there were six million people in Texas. Today, there
are 27 million and hundreds of communities on the Colorado River
system. Eight reservoirs and at least 14 dams have been built on the river and its tributaries in Kallinas life.
The river destroyed each attempted dam until the late 1930s, when the newly created Lower Colorado River
Authority (LCRA) built Buchanan Dam with money from a federal stimulus program. Early projects sought
to tame the ravenous floods that ransacked Austin and to harness the wild river for electrical generation.
Quickly, though, the need to store water for the growing population became apparent. By 1951, the LCRA
finished the six reservoirs and dams known as the Highland Lakes, which stores drinking water for over a
million people in Central Texas today.


LCRA
This graphic shows the six reservoirs that make up the Highland Lakes reservoir system. Other water authorities maintain similar reservoir systems in
other parts of the basin.

In subsequent decades, the LCRA expanded its control as water scarcity stressed the importance of central
resource planning in Texas. [Garwood] had the oldest right to the water, but the owner, Lehrer Interests, sold
most rights to the LCRA in the 1990s, said Lehrer Interests CEO Ralph Savino. The other irrigation
districts had been bought out in earlier decades, and the water authority took full authority of the regions
infrastructure.

LCRA
2011 was the last year that irrigation waters were released downstream. Like years before, irrigation constituted the majority of LCRA water use.
After buying the water rights, the LCRA legally owned the water in
the Colorado RIver. They agreed to charge the same rates that farmers
had previously paid irrigation companies. Because farmers held the
oldest water rights, and naturally got water before dams were built,
they were not asked to pay for the infrastructure upkeep that
guaranteed water supply to cities upstream.So each year the authority
released billions of gallons of irrigation water, the majority of its
annual supply, for a fraction of the price that municipal customers
paid.Lehrer Interests managed to keep Garwoods guarantee to water
in the reservoirs, because Mr. Lehrer had a very good lawyer, says
Savino. But other districts did not. By contract, districts in Wharton
and Matagorda counties could be denied irrigation water if the
Highland Lakes ever fell to critical levels, around 40 percent full. Most
never thought theyd see that happen.
Texas has seen droughts before, most notably in the fifties and eighties, that have generally struck a decade or
more apart. But in the late 90s, a dry spell kicked in, setting off a sequence of


dramatically wet and dry periods. The state saw one of its rainiest years in 2007 and its driest in 2011. That
same driest year, farmers in the Rice Beltflooded tens of thousands of acres with over 100 billion gallons like
theyd done for 100 years. But it would be the last time for several years.

LCRA
A map of the watershed basin
In 2012, 2013 and 2014, the reservoirs helplessly
awaited great rains to fill them, but the water never
came. Levels stayed under 40 percent, hitting the second
lowest point ever in September 2013. For the last three years,
most of the Rice Belthasnt gotten floodwaters.The once-wild
river from which farmers draw their livelihood now oozes
slowlyfrom the base of the Longhorn Dam in Austin to
Matagorda Bay on the Gulf. The LCRA sends reservoir water
downstream to a nuclear plant, a coal plant and several cities,
so the river bed doesnt dry out. But overall, less water has
been reaching the ocean than ever before.
If you look downstream of Austin, youre looking at places
where the river has been stagnant, algae vegetation has grown
in it, and the river has basically stopped, said Kirby Brown, a biologist with the Lower Colorado River Basin
Coalition, at an LCRA board meeting in June.

The Kallina rice dryer just north of Garwood
Like the river, the economy in the Rice Belt isnt what it used to be. When
water was cut for the first year, farmers were relieved to learn that federal
crop insurancewould cover their losses, but other businesses like crop
dusters, storage facilities and tractor depots that also rely on the harvest for
income havent been so lucky. Therice dryer that Kallina has owned since
1955 is processing about half of what he says it should.Its depressing; it
really is, he says. Because so many of our businesses closed. All those
empty buildings there It hurts.In 2011, Matagorda County planted about
22,000 acres of rice. But without water in 2012, that number fell
to 2,100.Mitch Thames, Director of the Bay City Chamber of Commerce in
Matagorda County, says that even local gas stations, grocery stores and car
dealerships are feeling the economic losses without a rice harvest in the
community. Farm equipment repair shops have lost about 70 percent of their business in Bay City, and one
familys three-generation crop-dusting business has closed completely, says Thames.


We see that the drought is causing the economic problems that were seeing in Bay City and it has been far-
reaching. We are feeling the devastation, says Thames.

RONALD GERTSON / DYLAN BADDOUR / STATEIMPACT TEXAS
Gertson, top right, plays with his father during race harvest in the early 60's while is mother and siblings stand by. In addition to the economic
damage, he says that he's sad to see his family tradition fall on hard times.
Farmers know that crop insurance will eventually end. Many
have experimented with other crops and some have found
success. But for people like Gertson whogrew up farming
rice patties, such big adjustments arent quickly made.I am
extremely concerned about this tradition, but Im not tied to
rice. If we can figure a way out to grow something else and
make a living off of it, well do it, and were trying, says
Gertson.Wharton County has managed to maintain over half of
its standard rice crop since 2012 with water from the Gulf
Coast Aquifer. Gertson, who chairs the Coastal Bend
Groundwater Conservation District, estimated that 65 new
wells have recently been drilled in Wharton County, some
operating for the first time this year. The aquiferrecharges, he
says, but theres a limit to how fast.
A motorized pump draws aquifer water up to the surface to irrigate the rice crop in the background.

I am fearful that the level of pumpage that all of these new wells are calling for is not sustainable over the long
haul, that we are going to be pumping water out at a faster rate than it can
recharge, he says.Forecasters cant agree on how long this drought will last or
if current conditions may be a new normal for the state. Rains may pick up, the
reservoirs may fill and things may be back to normal in the Rice Belt soon. But
Gertson acknowledges the possibility that they may not. In that case, he
expects the rice fields to be sold as grazing pasture for cattle worth just a
fraction the price of land that can nourish crops.Over a hundred years, the Rice
Belt changed from a soggy landscape graced with mighty floods to a place
where wells are drilled ever deeper in search of water. No one knows what the
future holds, but someday many Texans may share the farmers memories of a
time when precious water came easy.
Dylan Baddour is a reporting intern with StateImpact Texas.

6 foreign firms join rice imports auction


By Anna Leah G. Estrada | Aug. 12, 2014 at 12:01am
Six international rice traders have expressed interest to supply the additional 500,000 metric tons of rice the
government allowed this year, the National Food Authority said Monday.NFA special bids and awards
committee chairman Efren Sabong said during the pre-bid conference Monday the six international traders had
bought bidding documents.The companies are Vietnam Southern Food Corp., Vietnam Northern Food Corp.,
LG International, Louis Dreyfuss Inc., ADM Rice Inc. and Olam International Limited.Representatives from
several trading companies and officials of the embassies of the United States, Thailand and Vietnam also
attended the pre-bidding conference.NFA earlier divided the bidding for the 500,000 MT of rice imports into
five lots, or 100,000 metric tons each.The state-run agency allotted P10.27 billion for the additional rice imports
this year.
The bidding on Aug. 27 would be for shipments of well-milled white rice, with 25-percent brokens.NFA said
the shipment should have been harvested from January to June this year and must be packed in polypropylene
bags with NFA markings. It said the first 40 percent of the entire volume should be delivered not later than Oct.
31 while the remaining 20 percent should arrive not later than Nov. 30.Presidential assistant for food security
and agriculture modernization Francis Pangilinan said the volume would be on top of the 800,000 metric tons of
rice imports expected to be completed by the end of this month.

Thailand's first Rice Trade Development Institute is set to be launched next year with the aim of fuelling
industry growth and ensuring it is sustainable.
Chutima Bunyapraphasara, permanent secretary of the Commerce Ministry, said the institute should result in
the sustainable development of every sector involved in the rice industry.She said representatives of all industry
stakeholders - government agencies, farmers, millers, packers, domestic rice traders and exporters - would be on
a committee to draw up plans and strategies to develop the industry.

She said the institute would promote all aspects of the sector - plantations, production, and marketing.All
participants could share their ideas for the industry's development, while the committee's strategies could be
adopted by all stakeholders so that they could comply with the institute's plan.Under the plan, Chutima said the
Budget Bureau would set aside Bt500 million for the first year of the institute's establishment. She said the
institute should get about Bt587 million from the International Trade Promotion Fund.The government plans to
promote the rice industry in every facet and Thailand has the potential to become the world's leader in
plantations, seed development, polishing, and marketing, she said.


The institute would also help solve problems relating to duplication in the work of relevant government
agencies. All agencies would work under the same umbrella and be steered by the institute.Chutima said that to
aid the long-term development of the industry, the military's ruling National Council for Peace and Order had
also devised a project that aimed to reduce the cost of production and increase yield per rai."A rice seed bank
will be established soon to support the production of high-quality rice grains for farmers," she said."The
government has also set up a zoning system for rice cultivation and is encouraging farmers to grow other
economic crops on land that is not suitable for rice."Chutima said the Rice Policy Committee had recently
agreed to set up a fund to help farmers if rice prices fall.
3 m tonnes of rice 'is below standard'
Petchanet Pratruangkrai
The Nation August 13, 2014 1:00 am

ABOUT 3 MILLION tonnes of rice out of the government's overall stockpile of 18 million tonnes is below
standard, said a source from a committee charged with checking the stocks.Much of the substandard rice could,
however, still be sold for quality adjustment or for use by non-consumption sectors.The panel reported its
findings last week after checking about 90 per cent of the rice in the government's stockpiles. The full
inspection procedure will be concluded by the end of the month.Commenting on the interim findings, Chookiat
Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said it was not beyond expectation
that up to 3 million tonnes of rice had deteriorated in quality.
However, he said the government could still sell this below-standard produce to rice traders, as well as to non-
consumption industries, because there was still good demand for rice.For substandard rice, Chookiat suggested
that the ministry should sell it to general traders, but it would have to accept a low price because the traders
would need to spend money on improving the quality, which entails polishing and sorting the grain. Such
quality improvement costs about Bt2,500-Bt3,000 per tonne. For poorer-quality rice that it is not suitable for
human consumption, he suggested that the government should sell it for feed meal, or for other industrial uses.
For poor-quality or seriously damaged rice, the government may be unable to sell those stocks at all because it
has to file cases with the courts about such produce, said the rice-panel source.Rice millers or the owners of
warehouses at which damaged rice has been found will be sued under contract for not keeping the rice in good
condition.PTT and Bangchak Petroleum had previously offered to buy damaged rice for ethanol production.
China signs 100,000-tonne rice import agreement

Tue, 12 August 2014
Chan Muyhong


The Chinese government-run China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) will today
formally agree to import 100,000 tonnes of rice from Cambodia, local officials say. Representatives from
COFCO and Green Trade Co, a Cambodian government-owned agriculture firm, today met in Beijing to sign
the agreement, which takes effect this month and is valid for one year.Cambodia and China have long been
trade partners and the fact that Cambodia is a reliable supplier has built trust for this deal, Ken Ratha,
spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce said.But trust between the two nations might not be the only reason
for todays deal, according to David Van, president of local rice producing firm, Boost Riche Cambodia.
The South China Sea dispute lately may have also played indirectly a part in China wanting to diversify its rice
import base as imports from Vietnam hit a substantial figure. China imported over 66 per cent of its total rice
imports from Vietnam in 2013, while only 1 per cent came from Cambodia, Van said.
Government data show that China imported 7,700 tonnes of Cambodian milled rice in the first six months of year.

TABLE-India Grain Prices - Delhi - Aug 12
Tue Aug 12, 2014 2:22pm IST
Rates by Asian News International, New Delhi
Tel: 011 2619 1464
Indicative Previous
Grains opening close
(in rupees per 100 kg unless stated)
----------------------------------------------------------
Wheat Desi 2,300-3,300 2,300-3,300.
Wheat Dara 2,000-2,900 2,000-2,900
Roller Mill (per bag) 1,700-2,000 1,700-2,000.
Maida (per bag) 1,800-2,000 1,800-2,000.
Sooji (per bag) 1,700-1,900 1,700-1,900.
Rice Basmati(Common) 8,600-9,300 8,500-9,200.
Rice Permal 2,000-2,500 1,900-2,400.


Rice Sela 2,100-2,500 2,000-2,400.
I.R.-8 2,300-2,500 2,300-2,400.
Gram 3,560-3,760 3,500-3,700.
Peas Green 2,800-3,100 2,800-3,100.
Peas White 2,800-3,100 2,800-3,100.
Bajra 1,800-1,900 1,800-1,900.
Jowar white 1,600-1,700 1,600-1,700.
Maize 1,600-1,700 1,600-1,700.
Barley 1,500-1,800 1,500-1,800.

Source: Delhi grain market traders.
India cuts monsoon rains forecast but says no drought
BY RATNAJYOTI DUTTA
NEW DELHI Tue Aug 12, 2014 4:41pm IST
The latest forecast, given by Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh, was a downward
revision from a previous forecast of 93 percent given at the outset of the monsoon in
June, but was nowhere near as bad some farmers had feared.Concerns over a possible
drought arose after the rainy season got off to its weakest start in years, but a late pick-up
has helped cut the rain deficit to a large extent, Singh said.
"The second half of monsoon is expected to be better than the first half," the minister told reporters, reiterating views
of the weather office."The distribution of rainfall by and large is expected to be good."The agriculture sector
accounts for 14 percent the country's economy, and more than half of its arable land needs the summer rains to grow
crops like rice, corn, soybean, cane and cotton. Singh said August-September rains were seen at 95 percent of the
average. An average monsoon for the August-September period is when India receives downpours of between 96-
104 percent of a 50-year average of 43.5 centimetres, the weather office says. Rainfalls in August hold the key to
production of major summer crops after a wet end to July failed to make up fully for the dry start to the season.A
good crop would help bring inflation under control.


Retail inflation, which the central bank tracks to set lending rates, eased below 8 percent in June after 28 months
hovering above that level. In July, it probably edged up to 7.40 percent from 7.31 percent a month earlier, a poll
showed. A late revival in the monsoon has improved water levels at main reservoirs, easing worries of a drinking
water crisis. But overall planting for most summer crops continued to be lower than a year ago. The government last
week floated a scheme to sell diesel at cheaper rates to farmers in those areas which receive less than half of the
average rainfall this monsoon season. It has also raised the subsidy on seeds by half in those areas where the summer
planting has started but has been affected by the weak monsoon.(Reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; editing by Malini
Menon and Simon Cameron-Moore)
New rice variety to improve yields
By Sophie Malcolm,Updated yesterday at 12:30pmTue 12 Aug 2014, 12:30pm
PHOTO: Samples of a new variety of fragrant rice, Topaz, at the Ricegrowers Association of Australia conference.(Sophie Malcolm )
MAP: Mildura 3500
Plant breeders hope a new rice variety will mean better yields for growers.
Topaz is a new fragrant variety, which has been bred for conditions in the New South Wales Riverina and tested
in northern Victoria.New South Wales Department of Environment and Primary Industries rice plant breeder
Peter Snell helped develop Topaz. He says it has been a long time coming.
AUDIO: Dr Peter Snell from NSW DPI on new rice variety Topaz(ABC Rural)
"Fragrance was sort of neglected a little bit during the drought years and it's come back with a vengeance; both
on the domestic and also international market," Dr Snell says."A big growth in food services, particularly for
Jasmine, in prevalent in Australia at the moment." He says Topaz is also a semi-dwarf variety, which will mean
a yield increase of about 15 per cent for growers. "We can get yields up to 11 tonnes per hectare with it," Dr
Snell says."We have enough to get some commercial growers this season...experience with growers is the true
test of a variety."I expect with the yield advantages of Topaz and its superior taste, there should be a large
uptake. "I'm sure we're going to see the fruits of this variety for years to come."
Topics: rice, mildura-3500
Chinas refusal of cross-border rice shipments has little impact
on Vietnam: experts
TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 08/12/2014 12:36 GMT + 7


Chinas cessation of importing Vietnamese rice across the border does not affect the Southeast Asian
countrys rice exporting activities very much, experts asserted Monday, three days after exporters
confirmed cross-border rice shipments were rejected.

The Vietnamese rice sector had been concerned about reports that
China would prohibit rice imports via the border with Vietnam
starting early August, and the reported ban actually took effect late
last week. Nguyen Cong Khanh, a trader who sells rice via the
border to China, told trade newswire Vietnam Quality on August 8
that only official rice exports are accepted by the Chinese
side.Cross-border trading is a legal international economic activity
between people of two neighboring states. The products usually are
traded in small volumes and values, and require less paperwork than the official trading activities. China bans
cross-border rice imports because many Chinese businesses and traders have evaded their rice import duties,
Khanh said.Vietnams rice sector has been relying heavily on China over the last three years, according to
industry insiders. But most Chinese traders demanded that the grain be exported across the border. Vietnam
shipped 615,844 metric tons of rice in July, of which 32 percent was brought to China via the border, according
to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA). Nearly two million metric tons of Vietnamese rice was shipped to the
neighboring country in the first seven months of this year, the VFA reported.
Little effect
After ceasing imports from Vietnam, China is sourcing rice from Cambodia, a move Dr. Nguyen Duc Thanh,
director of the Vietnam Center for Economic and Policy Research, said shows that the ban has been well
planned.But Dr. Le Van Banh, head of the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute, said that the impact of the
cross-border import ban is inconsiderable.Vietnam has recently signed huge contracts with other traditional
markets such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, he explained.Vo Hung Dung, director of the
Vietnam Commerce and Industry Chamber branch in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, concurred with Dr.
Banh, saying Vietnams rice trading activities are unfazed by Chinas cessation of imports.Even when China
stops importing rice via the official channel, there will be no impact, he asserted.Dung reiterated that Vietnam
has contracted to supply rice to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and is likely to receive more orders
from these markets in the future. So we dont need to worry about where to export our rice from now till the
end of this year, he said.Dr. Banh of the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute noted that Vietnamese rice
firms must consider getting rid of the cross-border business with China, given this latest move from the Chinese
side.Vietnam exported its 5 percent broken rice at US$465 a metric ton in July, a strong rise from $420 a metric
ton a month earlier, according to the VFA.Export price in August slightly dropped to $450 a metric ton, but the
rate is still much higher than in the last three years, the association said.

12th August, 2014 Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine

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