No plan to cut rice exports: Thailand
Business Times 4 Apr 08;
(BANGKOK) Thailand, the world's top rice exporter, has no plans to curb exports, a senior Commerce Ministry official said yesterday, denying rumours that it might impose restrictions to protect domestic supply.
'We have never thought of stopping or cutting rice exports,' Apiradi Tantraporn, head of the ministry's Foreign Trade Department, said. 'We are confident that Thailand has ample supply for both domestic consumption and exports.'
Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper reported yesterday that Thailand might become the latest country to impose limits on exports of the staple foodstuff to protect domestic prices. It quoted Charin Hansuebsai of Thailand's Rice Exporters Association as saying rising rice prices had created 'rice unrest' in the South-east Asian nation.
'This needs to be solved quickly,' the paper quoted him as saying. It went on to quote him as saying that Bangkok might adopt measures to slow exports to bring 'the situation back to normal'. Mr Charin told Reuters he had been misquoted. 'What I told them was we should get people involved in the rice business to talk about the problem and fix it as quickly as we can,' he said.
Thai rice prices have risen more than 40 per cent this year and were expected to jump another 30 per cent in the second quarter after India banned exports of non-basmati rice, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association. Thai 100 per cent B-grade white rice rose to US$795 a tonne yesterday from the US$624 quoted last week and was expected to jump to US$850 by the end of April, association chief Chookiat Ophaswongse said.
The global supply problem has been compounded by Vietnam, the world's second-biggest rice exporter, halting new export deals for March and April shipment, partly to implement contracts for the Philippines. -- Reuters
Indonesia may curb rice export as inventories fall
Business Times 4 Apr 08;
(JAKARTA) The world's third-largest rice producer, Indonesia, may join China, India, Vietnam and Egypt in curbing exports as declining inventories threaten to spark unrest around Asia.
The country's rice production may exceed domestic consumption by two million metric tonnes this year, insufficient to allow for exports, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono told Bloomberg News on Wednesday.
Indonesians will consume about 36.2 million tonnes this year, the US Department of Agriculture forecasts.
Rice, the staple food for about three billion worldwide, has almost doubled in the past year on rising imports by the Philippines, the biggest buyer, and as global food supplies lag behind demand led by China and India. Record prices for commodities including rice, wheat, soya beans and corn are stoking food inflation and contributed to strikes in Argentina, riots in Ivory Coast and crackdowns on illicit exports in Pakistan.
The world's poor 'are living very close to the edge as it is,' said Robert Zeigler, director-general of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. 'If they are pushed further, they are typically the first who will spark unrest.' Consumer prices in China rose 8.7 per cent in February, an 11-year high, and reached a 13-month peak in India.
Indonesia wants to rebuild domestic inventories, Mr Apriyantono said. 'The surplus won't be enough to allow for export,' he said. 'It's better to strengthen domestic stockpiles.'
Global exports will fall 3.5 per cent as countries limit overseas sales to curb rising food costs at home, the Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Wednesday. Exports this year will decline 1.1 million tonnes to 29.9 million tonnes, according to a report by the FAO.
The higher cost of rice also may prompt policy makers in Asia to allow their currencies to strengthen so they have more buying power when purchasing the grain from overseas exporters, JPMorgan Chase Co said in a report on March 30. Asian governments likely want to avoid riots and protests caused by soaring prices for wheat, which have doubled in the past year.
The Vietnam Food Association has asked its members to stop signing new rice-export contracts between April and June, following Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's directive to cut delivery of the grain overseas. -- Bloomberg
Philippine rice hoarders face possible jail for life
Channel NewsAsia 3 Apr 08;
MANILA: Warehouse owners and traders in the Philippines found to be hoarding rice will be charged with "economic sabotage" which carries a life sentence, officials said Thursday.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said government agents had started swooping on illegal rice traders in the central city of Cebu and that 111 other traders in Luzon island were also on his list.
Evidence was being gathered against unscrupulous traders, who would be charged with "economic sabotage", which is punishable by life imprisonment, Gonzalez said.
"Our first initiative is to ask for the help of the Filipinos who can give us information because we are not here to witchhunt," Gonzalez told reporters.
He said he had ordered agents from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to "be very rigid in looking" for evidence.
President Gloria Arroyo ordered the raids to help avert a rice shortage, the staple food in this country of 90 million people, which could trigger social unrest.
She has also ordered huge imports of rice from neighboring countries like Vietnam and Thailand, and cancelled permits to rice dealers re-selling state-subsidised rice to avoid artificial price hikes.
The moves angered rice dealers and distributors, who have threatened to stop selling rice across the archipelago.
Rice is a politically sensitive commodity in the Philippines, one of the world's largest importers of the grain, where it is consumed three times a day on average by every household.- AFP/ir
Philippines calls in troops to deliver rice
Channel NewsAsia 4 Apr 08;
MANILA : The Philippines drafted in troops on Thursday to deliver rice to poor neighbourhoods in the capital Manila, amid worries about shortages and possible unrest sparked by soaring prices for the diet staple.
The Philippines, a major rice importer, has been one of the countries hardest hit by the increase in rice prices, which are near record highs - leading some experts to warn Asian governments they could face domestic unrest.
Just hours after rice hoarders and looters were threatened with prison, officials said 20 trucks and armoured transports went to the National Food Authority (NFA) to pick up supplies and move them to needy areas.
The army was also providing "security aside from assisting in the transport of NFA rice to distribution areas in highly populated and depressed areas," said the military chief for the capital, Major-General Fernando Mesa.
President Gloria Arroyo meanwhile ordered another 400 military vehicles to take over from truckers who have been complaining about road tolls in delivering rice, said Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.
He said the government was investigating unscrupulous private traders amid allegations of hoarding as well as the illegal sale of government-subsidised rice at nearly double the recommended price.
"There can be a possibility of economic sabotage here or even plunder," Gonzalez said. Both crimes are punishable in the Philippines by life imprisonment.
But he stressed that only those violating the law were being targeted, and that legitimate traders and warehouse owners had nothing to fear.
"This is an emergency situation," Gonzalez said. "They should understand."
Amid the probe, some trading licences have been cancelled, which in turn has angered some dealers and distributors who have since threatened to stop selling rice - a threat that has added to worries about availability.
Communist guerrillas burnt a rice trader's trucks in the central island of Panay last weekend.
Through the NFA, the government provides support to keep the price of the staple food at 18.25 pesos - about 44 US cents - per kilogramme.
But back-up stocks are down to only 57 days' worth of rice, short of the government goal of a three-month supply, Gonzalez said.
"As of this point there is no danger that we will lack rice," he said. "What we need here is a buffer, which normally is good for three months."
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the NFA would raise its buying price for unmilled rice from farmers by 42 percent to 17 pesos (41 US cents) a kilo, starting with the next harvest season in mid-year.
These stocks could be sold at a price slightly higher to the subsidised rice prices to augment supply, Yap told reporters.
The government has previously announced plans to import 1.5 million tonnes of rice this year. - AFP/de
India takes measures to help moderate rising food prices
Channel NewsAsia 4 Apr 08;
NEW DELHI : The Indian government has taken measures to help moderate rising food prices, especially for rice.
But the issue has sparked debate among political parties, even as people take to the streets to protest.
Protests over rising inflation have become commonplace in India.
Even though the Indian government has come up with measures to tackle the steep price rise, there has been no let-up in the situation, triggering a blame game among political parties.
The country's inflation rate is now at a 14-month high of 6.68 percent.
And India's ruling Congress-led coalition has been under pressure to check prices ahead of state and national polls.
Mr P. Chidambaram, Indian Finance Minister, said there would be a ban over the export of non-basmati rice.
Apart from the rice ban, the government has also scrapped import duties on edible oils, cut duties on maize imports to zero from 15 percent and extended a ban on export of pulses for a year.
But the rising prices of essential commodities like rice, edible oils, fruits and vegetables is taking its toll on the people.
They are struggling to cope, as their incomes have remained the same.
Mdm Meena Sharma, a housewife in New Delhi, said: "It's a double loss to us. Previously, I used to buy Sundrop oil at Rs80 (US$2) per kilogramme. But now I buy it for Rs100. What do we do? How do we feed our children? Initially, our monthly expenditure was about Rs10,000, now it is almost Rs20,000."
Mdm Kanchan Singh, a housewife in New Delhi, said: "I don't know what to buy and what to eat. Earlier, I used to spend about Rs250 on vegetables, but now even with Rs500 I can barely buy enough. The prices of fruits, vegetables and everything else have doubled."
Analysts say it is essentially a supply-led inflation, stemming from rising global food and oil prices.
The UN's recent Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific suggests that continuous monitoring and appropriate policy actions would be needed to ensure that the region's economic growth won't suffer.
High inflation is historically a vote-loser in India, as it hits the poor very quickly. And with elections due in a little over a year, the Congress-led coalition government has declared a war on soaring prices to keep the support of the nation's notoriously cost-sensitive voters. - CNA/de
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