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TOP Contents - Tailored for YOU Latest News Headlines

Thai Rice Exports Forecast To Decline This Year Govt eyes income from 1m-tonne G2G China rice sale Thailand to sell 400,000 tonnes rice to China from stocks Rice farmers now reliant on 'low' market prices Indonesia closely monitoring situation in Thailand Cofco buys control of Nidera, fuelling deal spree China to buy 1 million tons of rice to help Thai farmers Saudi Arabia-India to jointly build rice distribution hub in Dubai Big storm brings heavy rain, snow to dry California USA TODAY

NEWS DETAILS:
Thai Rice Exports Forecast To Decline This Year
BANGKOK, Feb 28 (Bernama) - The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) forecasts Thailand's rice exports may plunge in both the Asian and global markets this year due to low output and high production costs, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.UTCC's Foreign Trade Study Department director, Att Pisanwanich was quoted by the National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) as saying Thai rice exports would not exceed 6.8 million tonnes in 2014 compared to last year's 7 million tonnes. A fall in exports could push Thailand's position to third as the world's major rice exporters after India and Vietnam, Pisanwanich said."Thailand should keep an eye on Myanmar as its rice exports could reach 1.05 million tonnes which is a massive jump from 750,000 tonnes last year," he said.Att expressed concern over the future of Thai rice exports as other rice suppliers in the region such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia have stepped up their rice production.He proposed the government establish a fund to subsidise 40 percent of farmers' production costs which he believes is more viable than the rice subsidy programme.

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Govt eyes income from 1m-tonne G2G China rice sale

Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation. February 28, 2014 1:00 am The caretaker government has high hopes of bringing in some funding from the sale of 1 million tonnes of rice from the state stockpile via a government-to-government deal to pay what it owes farmers under the pledging programme.The rice sale would help speed up payments to farmers, as only one bidder showed up yesterday when the Finance Ministry opened the bidding for its Bt20 billion promissory notes (PN).An industry source said the Chinese government could sign an agreement for the deal in the next few weeks depending on the Thai government's readiness. The source said the G2G deal must be done with China's state-owned enterprise COFCO as the Thai government's counterpart. However, the deal should not be finalised in short. "Still, the government is yet to seek the Election Commissions approval for the deal, as this is considered an obligation of the new government," said Surasak Riangkrul, director general of Department of Foreign Trade. Meanwhile, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) on Thursday agreed to set up "Farmer Assistance Funds" for temporary relief to the unpaid farmers. There will be three funds: one from donations, one interest-free, and a third that is expected to provide a return on investment, for which the BAAC will pay interest of 0.63 per cent per annum. BAAC president Luck Wajananawat said the bank projected receiving about Bt20 billion in donations and investments from those wanting to help the unpaid farmers. The funds will be open for donations and investment from March 10 to June 30, while payments should be able to reach farmers from March 10 until the end of the year. The BAAC will manage the funds transparently and should get some return for investors from rice sales or loans by the end of the year, Luck said. Minimum investment to each fund (except donations, for which there is no minimum) is set at Bt1,000. The BAAC will allocate initial investment capital worth Bt100 million from its own resources, from which it expects to earn no interest. The bank will also allocate Bt10 million from its central budget to advertise the project.A group of farmers yesterday gathered in front of the United Nations building on Rajdamnoen Avenue, while waiting to submit a petition to HM the King asking for the royal assistance.The payment could be further delayed as the Public Debt Management Office yesterday had a difficulty in finding the buyers of the eightmonth PN.Several state enterprises were reluctant to join the bidding, fearing that it could violate a constitutional clause that a caretaker government should not embark on recurring debt. It was not disclosed which who was the only bidder for the financial paper.

Thailand to sell 400,000 tonnes rice to China from stocks

Source: Reuters - Fri, 28 Feb 2014 10:45 AM

(Adds detail on sale, quote from commerce minister, background)

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BANGKOK, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Thailand is to sell 400,000 tonnes of rice from its stockpiles to China in a deal that will provide funds to help the government pay farmers who have been protesting in Bangkok because a state rice-buying programme has run out of money.On Feb. 4, China scrapped a deal to buy 1.2 million tonnes of rice because of an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NAAC) into the transparency of various deals between Thailand and China.However, Commerce Minister Niwathamrong Boonsongpaisan said earlier this week another deal was on the cards and he confirmed it to reporters on Friday. "We have been informed by the director general of the Department of Foreign Trade that China is willing to purchase Thai rice under a government-to-government deal at a quantity of 400,000 tonnes. We initially expect an agreement to be signed in March," he said.Further details were not available, and it was unclear why China would be agreeing to another Thai rice purchase.Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was formally served on Thursday with charges of negligence relating to the rice subsidy programme, which has left hundreds of thousands of farmers unpaid and cost taxpayers billions of dollars. The price paid by the government for rice from October 2011 made the grain uncompetitive on world markets, and sales from the programme could not generate enough funds to keep it going.Money had to be found from the government budget but access to funds has been made difficult by Thailand's political crisis.A general election was held on Feb. 2 but was disrupted by anti-government protesters, leaving a caretaker administration with limited powers to borrow or use government funds for the rice scheme.The government is now making some progress in selling rice and raising money to pay farmers.The Commerce Ministry sold 600,000 tonnes of rice from its stocks this month and a second tender for 500,000 tonnes has just been completed. No results were available on Friday.The ministry is also selling smaller amounts on the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand. Niwathamrong said the government expected to generate 8 billion Thai baht ($245 million) per month from sales.On Thursday, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), which manages the ricebuying scheme, said it had paid farmers 67.5 billion baht for rice bought during the main 2013/14 crop from October, with 112 billion still outstanding. ($1 = 32.60 Thai baht) (Reporting By Pairat Temphairojana and Pracha Hariraksapitak; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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Rice farmers now reliant on 'low' market prices

Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation March 1, 2014 1:00 am

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Rice farmers wait yesterday to meet officials from the Office of the Attorney General, which agreed to submit their case taking the caretaker government before the Administrative Court for failing to meet its commitments under pledging contracts.Already hit by overdue payments from the caretaker government under its pledging scheme, rice farmers from today will suffer yet further by getting lower income from selling their produce at market prices after the end of the project.According to the Thai Rice Mills Association, the market price for 100-per-cent white rice (15-per-cent humid) is quoted at Bt7,200-Bt8,500 a tonne, compared with the former pledging price of Bt15,000.The market price for 30-per-cent humid rice, meanwhile, is Bt11,600 a tonne.The Internal Trade Department unofficially reported that more than 11 million tonnes of paddy had entered the government's pledging programme, which ended yesterday. The government has issued pledging documents to about 1.91 million farmers, while only 546,780 have been paid in full under the project. As of Wednesday, a total 11.3 million tonnes of paddy had been pledged. A rice-miller source said farmers would from today get even lower payment from selling their produce, as the market had acknowledged that the government needed to release more rice to generate income from the pledged produce."Farmers will be the ones who suffer the most from lower rice prices. Millers cannot help much, as the market trend has responded to the high government stockpiles, while the world market recognises that Thailand needs to sell rice urgently to get some return from the pledging project to fulfil its overdue payments," said the source.He added that lower rice prices in the market had clearly shown that the pledging scheme - with its toohigh subsidised prices - had not benefited farmers in the long run. Chanudpakorn Vongseenin, president of the Public Warehouse Organisation, said the agency would try to tot up the amount of pledged rice this week, before reporting the results to the National Rice Policy Committee.The total amount of pledged rice should not exceed 11 million tonnes of paddy, he said.Somporn Isvilanonda, an economist at the Knowledge Network Institute of Thailand, said he believed farmers would suffer yet more if the next government's plan to support their next crops was unclear. Moreover, the price of rice would continue to decrease as the government now holds more than 18 million tonnes in its stockpiles, he claimed. Meanwhile, the Office of the Attorney General has accepted a plea by rice farmers for a petition to take the caretaker government before the Administrative Court for failing to meet its pledging-contract ommitments.The office will set up an area for farmers to register their names before filing the case before the court.In a related development, the Lawyers Council of Thailand, which will help farmers file the overdue-payment case against caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and other ministers and government agencies involved with the pledging project, will next week file the case with the provincial court.So far, about 24,000 farmers have registered their names to file a suit against the caretaker administration.

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Indonesia closely monitoring situation in Thailand

Fri, February 28 2014 23:08 Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government continues to monitor the situation in Thailand, in terms of trade, as it is the biggest producer of rice and rubber, stated Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Khrisnamurti."We will continue to closely monitor the situation in Thailand and try to minimize its impact on Indonesia," he noted during a discussion with newsmen here on Friday.He emphasized that in the context of trade, two things must be closely monitored with regard to the situation in Thailand."The first is rice and the second is rubber. The prices of rice and rubber in the next few months are expected to drop in Thailand," he pointed out.As Thailand is a major producer of rice and rubber, the decline in prices of the two commodities in that country will certainly affect the prices in the world market, including in Indonesia."Especially rice. Indonesia is now entering a harvest season and this will be one of the things that we now closely monitor," he remarked. Bayu explained that the measures to be adopted by the government include assuring that no smuggling or illegal imports will take place."That must be prevented. We have various instruments, and we must ensure that they are effective," he added.With regard to rice, Thailands Acting Deputy Minister of Finance, Tanusak Lek-Uthai, noted that the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) will allocate aid funds to increase financial contribution to the Thai farmers.According to a source, the funds spent to buy 10,970 thousand tons of farmers rice in the 2013-2014 planting season reached 181 billion baht on February 16.The BAAC has paid 69 billion baht to the farmers, while the trade ministry has offered a rice tender at the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET). Several days ago, the Thai farmers cancelled plans to conduct a demonstration at Bangkoks airport to protest against a regulation that will cancel the payment of subsidy after the farmers were assured to receive their rights, their spokesman reported.The move was good news for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.The rice subsidy program is one of the populist policies issued by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra that has so far been the center of conflict, which has divided Thailand and triggered mass protests.The program is important for Yinglucks government in order to continue receiving support from the poor regions of the north and north-east.The subsidy for farmers was the main policy that brought her into power in 2011, but it has also led to rice supply piling up, which has triggered funding problems.(*) Editor: Heru COPYRIGHT 2014

Cofco buys control of Nidera, fuelling deal spree

China's Cofco supercharged its growth as a world force in grains by buying control of Dutch-based Nidera, extending a spree of deals aimed at exploiting growing world crop flows, and food security concerns.Stateowned Cofco, China's biggest grains trader, said that it had strengthened its position "as a key player in the

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global agricultural industry" by agreeing on Friday to buy 51% of Nidera, which sells some 33m tonnes of crops a year, and reaps annual revenues of more than $17bn. "Investing in Nidera is in line with Cofco's strategy to become a global player in the agricultural industry with a fully integrated," the group's chairman, Frank Ning, said.The deal will also marry a group based in China, the world's biggest importer of commodities including cotton, rubber and soybeans, with, in Nidera, a trading house with long-standing relationships in some of the world's top crop exporting countries.Nidera, which was founded in the Dutch port of Rotterdam in 1920, has been trading in Brazil, a major exporter of the likes of corn, coffee, cotton, soybeans and sugar, since the 1950s, and in Argentina since the 1970s. 'Great growth opportunities' Patrick Yu, the Cofco president, said: "Nidera has a strong origination platform in Brazil, Argentina and Central Europe as well as a global trading network, which can further extend Cofco's global presence and create new opportunities."For Nidera, chief executive Ton Van Der Laan said that the deal "will generate great growth opportunities."The Chinese and Asian markets are of great importance to Nidera," which has offices in Shanghai and Singapore, besides in Mumbai in India.While the groups declined to reveal the value of the deal, it has been reported to value Nidera at $4bn. Regulatory hurdle The companies said that they would now work together on obtaining regulatory approvals for the deal, which will be required from a number of different countries.Ironically, it is Chinese authorities which have appeared a handicap to many recent grain trading, taking nearly a year to approve in April 2013 the takeover of US-based Gavilon by Japan's Marubeni, and only then when significant conditions.These included an undertaking that Marubeni and Gavilon continue selling soybeans to China as separate companies, with two different teams, to prevent the combined group gaining undue hold over the country's important imports of the oilseed.Swiss-based Glencore blamed Chinese authorities for delays to its 2012 takeover of Canadian grain hander Viterra.And Australia's GrainCorp, in agreeing an ill-fated takeover by US-based Archer Daniels Midland last year, secured a mechanism to compensate its shareholders for regulatory delays, noting that "Chinese merger approvals "tend to drag on longer than we would normally expect in the marketplace".However, Australian officials in November blocked the deal, on competition grounds. Flows grow Cofco's deal also follows in grain handling deals including the purchase earlier this month by Japanese trading giant Sumitomo Corp of full ownership of Australian grain merchant Emerald Grain.US farm co-operative CHS last year purchased a 50% stake in Australia's AgFarm.Many deals have been aimed in particular at exploiting the growing trade flows of crops to Asia from exporting regions such as South America and the former Soviet Union.World trade in wheat and coarse grains in 2013-14 is estimated by the International Grains Council at 286m tonnes, up 7.9% year on year, with a further 108m tonnes, up 11.3%, in trade in soybeans before factoring in other crops such as cotton, rice, rapeseed and sugar.

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Big operator Cofco, which employs some 120,000 staff, has made only small deals abroad up to now, such as the Aus$136m purchase of Australian sugar producer Tully Sugar in 2011.Domestically, it is the biggest shareholder in China Mengniu, China's top dairy group, and also includes drinks group China Foods oilseeds processor China AgriIndustries Holdings in its portfolio.Nidera which took its name from its original major business areas, the Netherlands, the (East) Indies, Deutschland (Germany), England, Russia and Argentina - employs some 3,800 people in 20 countries.

China to buy 1 million tons of rice to help Thai farmers

Date : 28 2557 BANGKOK, 28 February 2014 (NNT) - China will abide by its promise to buy one million tons of rice a year under the government-to-government (G2G) basis, as stated in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by Thailand and China. The Chinese embassy in Thailand has confirmed that the Chinese government is willing to buy 1 million tons of rice on a G-to-G basis from the Thai government in accordance with the MOU signed by both country during the Chinese leader's visit to Thailand late last year. The MOU calls for China to buy 1 million tons of Thai rice a year over the next 5 years. The Thai government is currently having difficulties paying the farmers who have participated in its rice pledging program.

Saudi Arabia-India to jointly build rice distribution hub in Dubai

The venture, Innovo Specialty Foods JLT, created by an investment of about US $ 27 million, aims to set up a storage, processing, polishing and packaging facility with a capacity of over 100,000 tonnes of Basmati rice during 2014 By PTI | 28 Feb, 2014, 02.13PM IST DUBAI: A new Saudi Arabia and India joint venture has been formed to build a rice distribution hub in Dubai to link Indian production to consumers in the Middle East, according to a media report. Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah bin Turki and global private investor V Raman Kumar have formed the joint venture with India's rice producer, LEAF India (Lakshmi Energy and Foods Ltd.), to create the Middle East and North Africa region's largest hub for rice storage and distribution, Arab News said. The venture, Innovo Specialty Foods JLT, created by an investment of about US $ 27 million, aims to set up a storage, processing, polishing and packaging facility with a capacity of over 100,000 tonnes of Basmati rice during 2014, it said.

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Innovo will market and distribute Basmati rice processed and packed by Pan Gulf Food and Industriesexclusively across the Middle East and North Africa. "Our concept idea of creating this rice hub will aim to contribute and deliver food security objectives in the UAE," Kumar was quoted as saying by the paper. "Food security is clearly an immediate priority for the UAE and wider Middle East. The region is entering a new period of economic growth underpinned by a burgeoning population with a high dependence on imported food. "Currently, 20 per cent of all UAE imports comprise food items and 90 per cent of food is imported but there are only 3 months of basic food items stored, so food security cover is not fit for the rapidly growing economy," he said. Kumar said the 100,000 tonnes of Basmati rice capacity that will be created in Jebel Ali, UAE, will be a giant step for this region to strengthen its food security strategy. "We look to take this strategy to Saudi Arabia as well in the near future. We believe that execution of a core food security strategy is essential to provide a sustainable growth platform," he said. The increasing demand for Basmati rice has been primarily driven by Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, UAE and Kuwait, accounting for over 4 million tonnes of Basmati rice consumption every year.

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