4th Agust, 2014 Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine

Daily Rice E-Newsletter by Rice Plus Magazine www.ricepluss.
com
News and R&D Section mujajhid.riceplus@gmail.com Cell # 92 321 369 2874

4
th
August, 2014

TOP Contents - Tailored for YOU
Latest News Headlines
Unisame for incentives to boost rice export to Iran
People you should know: Dale Bumpers National
Rice Research Center scientists
Generating a Genome to Feed the World: UA-Led
Team Decodes African Rice
New machine age for J apan's ageing farmers
USA Rice Federation-Ducks Unlimited Conservation
Proposal Clears Major Hurdle
Record Rice Crop Brings Out Record Crowd at
Arkansas Rice Expo
Crop Progress: 2014 Crop 60 Percent Headed
Arkansas Rice Expo Draws 1K People for Farming,
Family, and Food
Export rice prices reach two year high
U of A Leads I nternational Team I n Sequencing
African Rice Genome
Philippines allots $236 million for extra rice imports
Harrell to take over as AgCenter rice specialist
Vietnamese rice exporters face risks in US market
NCPO to auction 160,000 tonnes of rice
Rice exports in J uly could hit 900,000 tonnes

Daily Rice E-Newsletter by Rice Plus Magazine www.ricepluss.com

Non-basmati rice up on increased demand
Govt aims 30 mn tons rice procurement in 2014-15
Plan to improve basmati seed varieties under way
News Detail..
Unisame for incentives to boost rice export to Iran
August 04, 2014
KARACHI - The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) invited immediate attention of the
Federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir to increase in import duty on Indian rice by Iran and the urgent
need now to facilitate Pakistani rice exporters to Iran to receive payment of export bills in rupees. President
Unisame Zulfikar Thaver said India benefited a lot by facilitating its exporters to export to Iran and receive
payment in Indian rupees and increased its basmati rice exports to Iran substantially as there was no competition
from Pakistan. He said Iran has raised its import duty on Indian basmati rice from 22pc to 40pc and Indian
exporters are now in turmoil.
Thaver urged the Minister Khurram Dastagir to act promptly and make arrangements with Iran for receiving
payment in Pakistani rupees for all exports to Iran to enable the Pakistani basmati rice exporters regain their lost
market as this is an opportunity and every effort must be made to re-enter the Iranian market.The Iranian market
likes Pakistani super basmati rice which is aromatic, tasty, elongates on cooking and long in length and good
looking. For several years the Pakistani rice has been in great demand in Iran but due to hurdles created by the
dollar regime, the Iranian buyers were unable to remit the value.
The Unisame chief said although there are no sanctions on food and medicine yet the international agency for
money transactions blocked all remittances from Iran and caused tremendous setback to Iran and Pakistani
basmati rice exporters to Iran. He said Pakistan tried for currency swap agreement with Iran but it is believed
that Pakistan was restrained to enter any such agreement. However Unisame expects the ministry of commerce
will take up the matter with the ministry of finance and make the necessary arrangements forthwith.

People you should know: Dale Bumpers National Rice Research
Center scientists
By Dawn Teer dteer@stuttgartdailyleader.com
Posted Aug. 1, 2014 @ 9:37 am


STUTTGART The Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center has been around since 1999, but few
people actually know that its there or what it does. The Stuttgart Daily Leader set out to find out more about
the DBNRRC. In doing so, it was discovered that this money seems to be well spent with, in some cases, a great
return on the investment in savings of money, time and resources, when one considers the economic impact of
the work that is done here.According to Dr. Anna McClung, research leader/center director, at the DBNRCC
since 2005, We want the community to know that we are very cognizant that we work for the taxpayer, and
that your tax dollars are well spent.
We have some really great people here doing really great work and we will continue to be a resource for
teachers and farmers alike. Its a shame we have to go out of this country to get people to come here and work
with us. Dr. Craig Wilson, director of the USDA/HSINP Future Scientists Program, speaking to a group of
teachers, said, Ag science is so important. We are losing 6,000 acres per day of land (that could be utilized to
feed the world). Only 1/32 of the earths mass feeds the world. With the population of the world looking to hit 7
billion people, it makes the research we do so important.If we dont research agriculture, we cant feed the
future, research geneticist Dr. Shannon Pinson said.
We must try to home grow scientists by making science fun and interesting. Linda Gunnell, a sixt- grade
science teacher from DeWitt, is working as a STRIVE program participant this summer at the DBNRRC and
calls it, the hidden jewel.They want to get teachers in this facility to see what is happening here and then
take it back to their classroom, Gunnell said.We will come to your classroom or you can bring your class
here, Wilson said. We want to be a resource for you.Although many rice varieties are actually stored here in
Arkansas, not all rice varieties are. Most are stored in Idaho at what is known as the GSOR, the Genetic Stocks
Oryza (GSOR) Collection.
Rice varieties mean more than just the variety that is desired to plant. What the DBNRRC is interested in as
well are the rice accessions. According to Dr. Shannon Pinson, ...18,000 rice accessions is, for practical
purposes, too large to study for each and every trait. So, what we generally do instead is make some best
guesses as to what subset of that collection to work with. For example, if we are interested in finding a gene for
cold tolerance, we can pretty much not waste our time looking through rice accessions from hot, tropical
regions, but instead look first at rice accessions originally from colder parts of the world.

Generating a Genome to Feed the World: UA-Led Team Decodes African Rice

Published on Sunday, 03 August 2014 20:02


Written by Shelley Littin
Tucson, Arizona - The genetic information will enhance scientists' and agriculturalists' understanding of the
growing patterns of African rice, as well as enable the development of new rice varieties that are better able to
cope with increasing environmental stressors to help solve global hunger challenges.The paper, "The genome
sequence of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) and evidence for independent domestication," was published
online in Nature Genetics on Sunday.
The effort to sequence the African rice genome was led by Rod A. Wing, director of the Arizona Genomics
Institute at the UA and the Bud Antle Endowed Chair in the School of Plant Sciences in the UA College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences, with a joint appointment in the UA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology."Rice feeds half the world, making it the most important food crop," Wing said. "Rice will play a key
role in helping to solve what we call the 9 billion-people question."The 9 billion-people question refers to
predictions that the world's population will increase to more than 9 billion people many of whom will live in
areas where access to food is extremely scarce by the year 2050. The question lies in how to grow enough
food to feed the world's population and prevent the host of health, economic and social problems associated
with hunger and malnutrition.
Now, with the completely sequenced African rice genome, scientists and agriculturalists can search for ways to
cross Asian and African species to develop new varieties of rice with the high-yield traits of Asian rice and the
hardiness of African rice."African rice is once more at the forefront of cultivation strategies that aim to confront
climate change and food availability challenges," said Judith Carney, a professor of geography at the Institute of
the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of "Black Rice."
The book describes the historical importance of African rice, which was brought to the United States during the
period of transatlantic slavery.
Carney is also a co-author on the Nature Genetics paper, and her book served as one of the inspirations behind
sequencing the African rice genome."We're merging disciplines to solve the 9 billion-people question," Wing
said.Although it is currently cultivated in only a handful of locations around the world, African rice is hardier
and more resistant to environmental stress in West African environments than Asian varieties, Wing
said.African rice already has been crossed with Asian rice to produce new varieties under a group known as
NERICA, which stands for New Rice for Africa.The African rice genome is especially important because many
of the genes code for traits that make African rice resistant to environmental stress, such as long periods of
drought, high salinity in the soils and flooding.
"Now that we have a precise knowledge of the genome we can identify these traits more easily and move genes
more rapidly through conventional breeding methods, or through genetic modification techniques," noted Wing,
who is also a member of the UA's BIO5 Institute and holds the Axa Endowed Chair of Genome Biology and
Evolutionary Genomics at the International Rice Research Institute. "The idea is to create a super-rice that will
be higher yielding but will have less of an environmental impact such as varieties that require less water,
fertilizer and pesticides."Hardy, high-yield crops will become increasingly vital for human survival as the world
faces the environmental effects of climate change and an ever-growing global population, he added.


Wing's research group specializes in developing what geneticists call physical maps, a tool that enables
scientists to understand the structure of the genome. His group developed the physical maps for Asian rice and
donated it to the Rice Genome Project, making sequencing of that complete genome possible.Much of the
evolutionary analysis of the genome was performed by Muhua Wang, a UA plant sciences doctoral candidate,
and by Carlos Machado of the University of Maryland. Yeisoo Yu, a research associate professor in Wing's
research group at the Arizona Genomics Institute, led the sequencing effort.
In analyzing the 33,000 genes that make up the African rice genome, the researchers discovered that during the
process of domestication, Africans and Asians independently selected for many of the same genetic traits in the
two species, such as higher nutrition and traits that make harvesting the crop easier.Additionally, the sequenced
genome helps resolve questions about whether African rice originally was domesticated in one region or in
several locations across Africa. By comparing the genome with what is known about the genetic structure of
wild varieties, Wing and his team found that it's most similar to a population of wild rice species found in one
location along the Niger River in Mali.
"Our data supports the hypothesis that the domestication of African rice was centric in this region of Africa,"
Wing said.From 1998 to 2005, Wing led the U.S. effort to help sequence the genome of Asian rice, which is the
only other domesticated rice species. Those results were published in the journal Nature in 2005, and have since
enabled the discovery of hundreds of agriculturally important genes, including genes that code for faster
breeding cycles and the ability for the plant to survive for up to two weeks underwater during periods of
flooding.Wing's research group is now focusing on sequencing and analyzing the genomes of the wild relatives
of African and Asian rice. "By understanding the entire genus at a genome level we have a whole new pool of
genetic variation that can be used to combat pests and plant pathogens," Wing explained.
One example, he said, would be adding disease resistance genes from all of the wild rice varieties to a species of
cultivated rice, creating a new super-crop that is resistant to diseases and pests.Wing is also working with Quifa
Zhang from Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, China, to create a set of super-crop science and
technology centers around the world, where focused and coordinated efforts could help solve the 9 billion-
people question. "We really only have about 25 years to solve this problem, and if we're always competing with
each other it's not going to work," he said."After decades of promoting high-yielding Asian varieties, the
emphasis now is on developing types that combine the former's higher yields with glaberrimas tolerance of
environmental stress," Carney noted.
In November, Wing and his collaborators will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Asian rice
genome and the new completion of the African rice genome at the 12th International Symposium on Rice
Functional Genomics, a conference that will be held in Tucson, Arizona.Sequencing of the African rice genome
was made possible by National Science Foundation grants # 0321678, #0638541, #0822284 and #1026200 to
the Oryza Map Alignment and Oryza Genome Evolution Projects.


New machine age for Japan's ageing farmers
Last updated 08:36, August 4 2014
The Yomiuri Shimbun
ASSISTED HARVESTING: Hisatomo Miyazawa, 72, of
Nagano, Japan, thins grape branches wearing a Rakubesuto
assist suit, which supports raised arms with leaf springs and a
small motor.New types of agricultural machinery with
functions and designs that differ from conventional tractors and
rice planters are attracting new attention in Japan.They include
high-tech machines for assisting elderly farmers whose
physical strength is weakened. Machines with designs intended to attract young people are also being
released.
Agricultural machinery makers are trying hard to expand the domestic market for the new styles of
products.The average age of farmers in Japan reached 66.2 in 2013. For agricultural machinery makers,
how to support farmers with waning physical strength is an important challenge.Hisatomo Miyazawa, a
72-year-old farmer who runs a vineyard in Nagano, habitually uses a Rakubesuto set, an assist-suit
attached to the upper half of the user's body. The product was officially released for sale in October last
year by Kubota, the nation's largest manufacturer of agricultural machinery.The assist suit supports
raised arms with leaf springs and a small motor.
A user can easily perform work such as thinning fruit trees and cutting branches with arms raised for a
long time. The "Raku" part of the product name means physically easy.Though one set is expensive, at
about 130,000 yen (NZ$1500), Miyazawa said, "I can shorten my working time by nearly two hours a
day and my physical fatigue doesn't continue."There are some cases in which electronic devices are used
to enable anyone to do farming work, without needing to rely on experience or instinct.Iseki & Co, one
of the main farming machinery makers, will begin selling measuring equipment products for checking
the growth conditions of mass-cultivated plants in greenhouses starting from January next year.
The measuring devices automatically move around on rails inside the production facility, scanning
plants with special rays, measuring photosynthesis activity and detecting abnormalities in the
produce.Models of agricultural machinery, created with particular attention to design to attract young
farmers, are also scheduled to be released.Yanmar, another major farm machinery maker, will release a
new model of a tractor as early as fiscal 2015. The company asked a designer who had worked on
vehicles for Italian luxury carmaker Ferrari to make the basic design for the tractor. A prototype for the
tractor has a sporty body that tapers toward the rear. Agricultural machinery makers in Japan are making


efforts to develop such high-tech machines and equipment with sophisticated designs because their
domestic markets have been sluggish as the number of farmers has been on the decline.
Sales in the domestic agricultural machinery market in 2012 amounted to 292.9 billion yen, about a 20
percent fall from the figure in 2005.Given the situation, the government has implemented a subsidy plan
for purchases of high-tech agricultural machinery products as part of its reforms of agriculture. Some
economists forecast that there will be domestic demand worth 60 billion yen annually for these kinds of
products. Agricultural machinery makers intend to revitalise the domestic market.However, some say it
cannot be known whether the high-tech products will be successful unless they can actually be used for
several years.For the products to take root, it is likely necessary for lower-priced and more user-friendly
versions to appear.
- The Washington Post
USA Rice Federation-Ducks Unlimited Conservation Proposal Clears Major Hurdle
ARLINGTON, VA -- The USA Rice Federation moved one step closer to securing a vital conservation
program for the industry with the news that their pre-proposal had been selected by the Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to advance to the next stage.NRCS received nearly 600 pre-
proposals under the new Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) that is intended to
promote coordination between the agency and its partners to deliver conservation assistance to
producers and landowners. USA Rice partnered with Ducks Unlimited (DU) on their application that
capitalizes on the unique link between rice production and wildlife habitat.
The pre-proposal's three priority-resource concerns
in order are: water quantity, water quality, and
wildlife habitat. "Rice and waterfowl are
intrinsically linked," said Jeff Durand, a Louisiana
rice farmer and co-chairman of the USA Rice-DU
Stewardship Partnership Committee. "We've
shown that nationally, waterfowl depend on rice
fields for almost 50% of their food energy, and that
the habitat we provide as rice farmers is critical to
many species - and not just birds.""Ducks
Unlimited recently completed a study that showed
the cost of replacing rice fields with managed
wetland habitat would exceed $3.5 billion," said
USA Rice President and CEO Betsy Ward. "Rice


farmers also provide about $70 million in annual maintenance costs to provide this habitat, and the
RCPP may be a means of recognizing that sacrifice in some small way."
Created by the Farm Bill, the RCPPs will make $394 million available this year to conservation partners
who can increase the restoration and sustainable use of soil, water, wildlife, and related natural resources
on regional or watershed scales. NRCS says there are 230 proposals advancing to the next round and
that the total requested is almost $2.8 billion."We're going to make our case as best we can that rice
farmers are providing an excellent and important resource that benefits everyone," said Durand. "The
next phase for us is to come up with industry funds in support of the proposal." Full proposals are due
to the agency in October.
Contact: Michael Klein (703) 236-1458
Record Rice Crop Brings Out Record Crowd at Arkansas Rice Expo

The In Crowd
STUTTGART, AR -- More than 1,000
people came out for Friday's fourth annual
Arkansas Rice Expo to celebrate the rice
industry and the fact that, for the first time,
Arkansas is expected to produce more than
fifty percent of the rice grown in the United
States. Attendees toured research plots, heard
various agriculture promotion board reports,
observed cooking demonstrations, tasted rice
samples, and participated in a myriad of
family-friendly activities. In addition to
attending the Rice Expo, USA Rice
Federation President and CEO Betsy Ward gave an update on domestic and international promotion
activities at Friday's meeting of the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board. Domestic promotion
highlights included efforts to increase rice use in school meals, boosting use of social media, making
sure rice is featured as a food choice in the government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and
working with supermarket retail dietitians during the upcoming National Rice Month and beyond.
Ward also reviewed marketing activities in Mexico, Haiti, and Iraq, and discussed the International
Trade Commission's study on the global rice industry which is just getting underway."I commend the


University of Arkansas's Division of Agriculture for organizing this excellent event," said Ward. "Our
job is to make sure there is demand both here and abroad for this new crop and I am excited about the
new initiatives we are working on to help promote U.S.-grown rice, expand existing markets, and open
new ones."
Contact: Chuck Wilson (870) 673-7541
Crop Progress: 2014 Crop 60 Percent Headed
WASHINGTON, DC -- Sixty percent of the nation's 2014 rice acreage has headed, according to today's
U.S. Department of Agriculture's Crop Progress Report. Seventy-one percent of this year's crop is rated
good to excellent.

Arkansas Rice Expo Draws 1K People for Farming, Family, and Food
For the first time, Arkansas rice production will represent more than half the nations output of the grain,
attendees at the fourth Arkansas Rice Expo heard Friday For the first time, Arkansas is expected to produce
more than half the rice in America, Keith Glover, president and chief executive officer of Producers Rice Mill
told a crowd during a panel discussion on the 2014 Farm Bill.About 1,000 people took part in a half-day of
activities including tours of research plots, cooking demonstrations and rice tastings at the fourth annual
Arkansas Rice Expo on Friday.
Among the attendees was Ethan Vasquez from Sikeston,
Missouri. He came to Arkansas just to visit his first-ever Rice
ExpoIts a great day so far, very informational, the new
things coming out of the pipeline as far as the chemistries and
the new varieties into bringing to the table, he said.He heard
about the Rice Expo from his counterpart in Arkansas and
from the University of Arkansas System Division of
Agriculture.He especially wanted to learn about new
production technology and varieties of rice.He intended to
bring back the knowledge he learned at the Rice Expo to his
growers in Missouri.Karen Moldenhauer discusses rice breeding research with visitors to the Arkansas Rice
Expo.


The 2014 Rice Expo, the fourth annual, is an outgrowth of a traditional field day, in which researchers showed
crop producers the results of their work in the demonstration fields.Rice is a critical part of Arkansas $20
billion agriculture industry and the Rice Expo is a celebration, not only of that role, but also of Arkansas farms,
food and families, said Mark Cochran, head of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
The expo not only showcases the crop for which Arkansas is the top grower, but also the work that the faculty
and staff of the Division of Agriculture is doing to help Arkansans from money management to farm
production, he said.I know absolutely nothing about raw crops and Im kind of doing this to get the ground
knowledge, said Emily Kaufman, a daughter of livestock farmer from Morrilton.Its good to know that
Arkansas is big in rice, she said about her first experience coming to the Rice Expo.This is the second Rice
Expo that a rice farmer, Doug Lancaster from Poinsett County, has attended.I want to see the new varieties and
Im interested in their new technology on pigweed control and soybeans, he said.
Complex issues
During the panel discussion, Extension Economist Brad Watkins called the 2014 Farm Bill the most complex
ever.What are we going to do with all these decisions and how are we going to make them? Watkins said.
Fortunately, youre going to have some help.Watkins said USDA had provided funds for the development of
decision aids for help producers. One of the decision aids was being developed by the Agricultural and Food
Policy Center at Texas A&M jointly with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University
of Missouri and the other was being developed by the University of Illinois.
Recipe contest
Tiffany Aaron of Cleburne County earned $200 for her winning entry in the Rice Expo Recipe Contest: Grilled
Rice and Black Bean Burritos with Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce.I dont know if I like judging food like
that just because everybody has worked so hard and everybody has put a lot of effort, said Matt Bell, executive
chef of South on Main restaurant in Little Rock.
I definitely had my favorite, he said. I found more than what I was looking for. There was a huge variety and
dessert in there was kind of a surprise.Lee Hogan, writer for Little Rock Soiree and Arkansasbusiness.com said
he was really excited to come today and it was a lot of fun to be a part of it. All the dishes that we got to taste
you could tell they really spent a lot of time to put these together.We had a good time, all the recipe were
really unique and tasty, said Emily Van Zandt, food writer for Sync and Arkansas Life Magazine. She said it
wasnt easy to find the winning dishes.In the first round we can only judge the appearance so it was hard to not
taste them, Van Zandt said.
Tags: arkansas, Arkansas Rice Expo, Missouri, Rice, rice management, rice news, rice production, rice
research, rice varieties


Export rice prices reach two year high

Over the last two weeks, businesses have sped up purchase of summer autumn
rice in the Mekong Delta sending export prices to highest level in the last two
years.Sunday, Aug 03, 2014, Posted at: 15:59(GMT+7)Export prices (FAS-
Free alongside Ship) have escalated to VND8,250-9,300 a kilogram (US$389-
438 per ton) of 5-25 percent broken rice in Ho Chi Minh City.These price are
found up VND1,000 over the last two months.The Vietnam Food Association
(VFA) increased the export price of 25 percent broken rice to US$410 per ton
in FOB (Free on Board) term at the end of July, up US$35 over the early month.Farmers are rushing to harvest
summer autumn rice in the Mekong Delta. They are very eager to stock their harvest because the price is
expected to continue raising in the next couple of weeks.

Image:Farmers stock dried rice for further price hike in Mekong Delta (Photo: SGGP)
U of A Leads International Team In Sequencing African Rice Genome
By Andrew Bernier
Rice is not known to grow in Arizona, but a research team based in Tucson has cleared a huge hurdle to help
make the food more accessible across the world.An international research team led by the University of Arizona
successfully mapped the genome sequence of African Rice, known for hardiness and drought resistance. The
genome, or chemical DNA sequence, determines every characteristic of the rice species. Rod Wing, Ph.D,
Director of the Arizona Genomics Institute at U of A describes the sequencing process started in 2003.There
are four bases, A, C, T, G and then what we do is that the rice genome has 350 million of these four letters and
we essentially sequence them one base at a time. But, we do that in 150,000 chunks and we do that over and
over and over again," Wing said.
The hope is to cross-breed African rice with Asian rice, which was sequenced in 2005 and known for high
yields. By selecting desirable traits from each species, researchers intend to cross-breed the strands to produce a
crop that can flourish in areas hard hit by climate change. It also might help answer what they call the Nine
Billion People question, or how will nine billion people stay fed, many of who are in areas of food scarcity.
The next research step will be testing the nearly 2,000 rice successions, or races of African Rice, in various
areas affected by climate change. Then you would plant them out in a whole variety of environments and


conditions," Wing said. "Like under salty conditions, under high heat, under flooding conditions.From there,
the successions that grow the best would be identified for further research
Philippines allots $236 million for extra rice imports
by Reuters
August 4, 2014
The Philippine government has allotted a budget of 10.3
billion pesos ($236 million) to import half a million
tonnes of rice via a tender rescheduled for later this
month, according to a bid invitation published over the
weekend.The state grains procurement agency National
Food Authority (NFA) reset the tender date to Aug. 27
from Aug. 12 due to time constraint, NFA Spokesman
Rex Estoperez told Reuters.

Workers unload rice imported from Vietnam from a ship docked at a port in Manila January 23, 2014.Credit:
Reuters/Romeo Ranoco
Seeking to boost thin stockpiles following recent typhoons and spikes in local retail prices of the grain, the
government decided to import more rice with purchases in the second half of the year, possibly reaching as
much as 1 million tonnes.Total rice purchases this year by the Philippines could exceed 2 million tonnes, its
biggest in four years. President Benigno Aquino announced on July 28 that the NFA has been authorized to
import an additional 500,000 tonnes for emergency needs later this year.With the buying spree, the Philippines
is on track to become the worlds third biggest buyer of rice, according to estimates by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, up from the No. 8 spot it held last year.
The tender later this month is open to all rice brokers, dealers and exporters, Estoperez said, including those in
Vietnam, the countrys traditional supplier, and Thailand.The Thai government, which aims to sell 3 to 4
million tonnes of rice from state warehouse in government deals within six months, plans to hold talks with
several buyers in Asia, including the Philippines.Vietnamese rice jumped last week to the highest price level in
2-1/2 years on demand from China, making it uncompetitive with Thai grades which were set to fall as the
government continued to offload state stocks on the world market.The NFA is seeking to import 25 percent
broken, long grain, well milled white rice variety for delivery in three batches between September and
November.


The first shipment of 200,000 tonnes should arrive not later than Sept. 30, followed by another batch of the
same volume not later than Oct. 31. The final shipment of 100,000 tonnes should arrive not later than Nov.
30.Bidders will be offered five lots of 100,000 tonnes each.The Southeast Asia country has shifted away from
setting a target date for its plan to be completely self-sufficient in the production of rice, after missing its end-
2013 goal, keeping its doors open to imports in the coming years.
Harrell to take over as AgCenter rice specialist
By Hope Ford - email

Lafayette Consolidated Building now have to check-in. It's something new, but not unusual. The system
includes camera monitoring, a sign-in protocol and an armed guard. LSU AgCenter agronomist Dustin Harrell
has been appointed Louisiana rice extension specialist.Harrell will start work in January after current specialist
Johnny Saichuk retires.LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station director Steve Linscombe says Harrell will
maintain a research program at the station and take on additional responsibility for the extension service's rice
industry education program in Louisiana.
Vietnamese rice exporters face risks in US market
VietNamNet Bridge Vietnam rice exporters face a risk of being sued because of their low selling prices in the US market
Local newspapers have quoted Lawyer Ngo Quang Thuy as reporting that the US House of Representatives Finance &
Tax Committee, unofficially representing USRPA (the US Rice Producers Association), on May 15 filed a petition to the
International Trade Commission (ITC) requesting an investigation of the competitiveness of rice imports against domestic
rice.On June 17, the commission released a decision to begin an investigation. It is preparing a report on the risks for US
domestic rice production from major rice exporters in the world, including Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand,
Uruguay and Vietnam.After the investigation ends, the US may consider imposing an anti-dumping and countervailing
duty lawsuit, slated for 2015.
Thuy said he can see some worrying problems when considering the rice import prices from Vietnam in the period from
2009 to 2013. ITC documents show that the average import price from Vietnam in 2013 was about half of the import
prices from Thailand, India and Pakistan, the three biggest rice exporters to the US in the year.Nguyen Van Don, director
of Viet Hung Company Ltd, said he is concerned that the US may file a lawsuit against Vietnam rice imports.According
to Don, Vietnam mostly exports fragrant rice, a high quality rice, to the US, but the price of exports is only half of the
Thai rice price.Professor Vo Tong Xuan, the best-known rice expert in Vietnam, noted that Vietnamese rice exporters
should pay more attention to conquer the US market. In 2013, Vietnam was the third biggest rice exporter in the US,
following Thailand and India. Xuan stressed that this is a market with high potential because of a high percentage of
Asians live in the US.
The attractiveness of the US market has prompted Cambodia to invest millions of dollars on a program to upgrade its rice
export quality to boost exports to the US.Analysts commented that by selling rice cheaply, Vietnam not only loses big
money, but also faces high risks of being sued in the US market. Most recently, Vietnam won a bid to provide 800,000
tons of rice to the Philippines. And the reason behind the victory was the low bidding price Vietnam offered. The


average price Vietnam offered was $439 per ton CIF (cost, insurance, freight in the Philippines), which was $30 per ton
lower than the prices offered by its rivals. Cambodia, for example, offered the price of $469 per ton, and Thailand offered
$474 per ton.Xuan noted that Vietnamese enterprises should not try to sell rice cheaply to attract more buyers. In fact, this
policy has done more harm than good.
Dat Viet
NCPO to auction 160,000 tonnes of rice
BANGKOK, 4 August 2014 (NNT)- The National Council to
maintain Peace and Orders economic chief, has announced
that the NCPO will auction off 160,000 tonnes of rice by next
week, while the new rice deal with China will allow a two
phase delivery of rice to China by this September. After the
talks with China to sell 1 million tonnes of rice through a
government-to-government (G-to-G) deal, Thailand has
delivered 100,000 tones to China while the rest will be
delivered following the revised deal. The deal with China is being revised to ensure that the price, quality and prospects of
future sales, are to the benefit of both countries . The regime will closely monitor and supervise the sales process to ensure
transparency and quality of the grain. The second and subsequent deliveries of 100,000 tonnes of rice will resume from
this September

Rice exports in July could hit 900,000 tonnes
The Nation
August 2, 2014 1:00 am
After surging 59.2 per cent in the first half of this year, Thailand's rice exports may have touched 900,000 tonnes in July,
given its lower prices than rivals' and tightening rice supply in Vietnam, said the Thai Rice Exporters Association.As of
July 30, in FOB (free-on-board) terms, the Thai export price of 5 per cent broken white rice was lower than competitors' at
US$432 per tonne. Based on oryza.com data on the same date, the Vietnamese export price of 5 per cent broken white rice
was $465-$475 per tonne. India's and Pakistan's export prices of the same quality rice were in the range of $435-$445 per
tonne.According to the Thai Rice Exporters Association, this country's export prices last month might have been higher
than in June because of a tighter supply after a slowdown of the government's rice sales and appreciation of the baht.
Foreign buyers, including in Africa and the Middle East, purchased more Thai white and parboiled rice, it said.
First-half


During the first half of this year, Thai rice exports totalled 4.68 million tonnes valued at Bt76.35 billion. Export volume
jumped 59.2 per cent year on year, while export value increased 23.2 per cent.Benin was the top importer, buying 510,016
tonnes of Thai rice in the first six months, followed by China's 328,894 tonnes and Ivory Coast's 257,581 tonnes.In June,
Thai rice exports fell slightly from the prior month because of a 13-per-cent drop in white-rice shipments to 407,577
tonnes. Most white rice was exported to Cameroon, China, Japan, Mozambique, Angola and Malaysia.June's jasmine-rice
exports totalled 146,780 tonnes, up 14.6 per cent from May. Most jasmine rice was exported to the United States, Hong
Kong, Canada and Singapore.Parboiled-rice exports inched up 2 per cent to 262,099 tonnes. Of that total, 130,422 tonnes
of parboiled rice was exported to Benin, while 38,950 tonnes was shipped to Nigeria
Non-basmati rice up on increased demand
By Press Trust of India @indiacom | August 04, 2014 3:05 PM | comment
Tags: Basmati, New Delhi, news, Permal

New Delhi, Aug 4 : Prices of non-basmati rose by Rs 100 per quintal at the wholesale grains market today on increased
demand.However, wheat and other grains continued to move in a narrow range in limited deals and settled around
previous levels. Traders said besides increased demand, tight supplies on restricted arrivals from producing regions, led to
the rise non-basmati rice prices.In the national capital, non-basmati rice sela and IR-8 quality were up by Rs 100 each to
Rs 2,700-2,800 and Rs 1,900-1,950 per quintal, respectively. Following are todays quotations (in Rs per quintal):
Wheat MP (deshi) 2,245-2,445, Wheat dara (for mills) 1,565-1,570, Chakki atta (delivery) 1,570-1,575, Atta Rajdhani (10
kg) 220, Shakti bhog (10 kg) 220, Roller flour mill 830-840 (50 kg), Maida 935-945 (50 kg) and Sooji 990-1,000 (50
kg).Basmati rice (Lal Quila) 10,400, Shri Lal Mahal 10,000, Super Basmati Rice 9,500, Basmati common new 9,400-
10,600, Rice Pusa- (1121) new 8,000-11,000, Permal raw 2,150-2,200, Permal wand 2,200-2,300, Sela 2,700-2,800 and
Rice IR-8-1,900-1,950, Bajra 1,230-1,235, Jowar yellow 1,400-1,420, white 2,325-2,525, Maize 1,250-1,255, Barley
1,330-1,340.
Modified Date: August 04, 2014 3:23 PM
Govt aims 30 mn tons rice procurement in 2014-15
Press Trust of India | New Delhi
August 4, 2014 Last Updated at 19:52 IST
The Centre has set a target of procuring 30 million tonnes of rice for 2014-15 marketing year starting October,
and directed state governments to open adequate number of purchasing centers. Food Corporation of India
(FCI), the nodal agency for foodgrain procurement and distribution, has purchased 26.64 million tonnes (MT)
so far in 2013-14 marketing year (October- September). Annual procurement target for this year is 32 MT.


Procurement stood at a record 35.06 MT in 2011-12. "The procurement target for kharif 2014-15 has been
finalised as 30 million tonnes," an official statement said. Despite deficit monsoon and delayed sowing, the rice
procurement target exceeds the actual procurement of last year's kharif crop, it added.
The rice procurement target was fixed at the meeting of the state food secretaries chaired by Union Food
Secretary, Sudhir Kumar. The meeting also reviewed arrangements for procurement of paddy and coarse grains
for 2014-15. To ensure smooth procurement operation, the states have been asked to open adequate purchase
centers and deploy sufficient manpower. They have also been advised to make arrangements to publicise about
minimum support price (MSP) as well as about procurement centers both in print and audio-visual media and
pamphlets in local languages.
On storage front, the state governments have also been asked to give details of storage plan for the ensuing
kharif marketing season and should have an action plan to meet the deficit in storage requirement, it said.
Regarding packaging material, states were requested to place indents for purchase of jute bags in time to avoid
last minute shortage of packaging material. States have also been asked to evolve an online procurement
monitoring system (OPMS) for reporting and monitoring of procurement operations for wheat, paddy and
coarse grains in the country on a daily basis. They have been asked to ensure that all state agencies feed the data
of procurement into the system at revenue district level, the statement added.
Plan to improve basmati seed varieties under way
August 04, 2014
RECORDER REPORT
Punjab Agricultural Research Board, Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku; National Institute for Biotechnology and
Genetic Engineering; Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and biology; basmati rice farmers; private service providers; and
the International Rice Research Institute are actively preparing a plan to improve basmati seed varieties and to improve
rice farming and post harvest practices. According to Pakistan Agricultural Research Council sources, these institutions
are also preparing a plan for improvement of research and service capabilities for higher incomes of basmati rice farmers
in Punjab and higher export earnings from basmati
Overcoming the major problems affecting Punjab's basmati rice is urgently needed for Pakistan to regain and sustain its
competitiveness in the world market, improve the sub-sector's foreign exchange earnings, and ensure higher incomes for
basmati farmers and other stakeholders in the value chain. The ADB financial assistance will focus on measures that meet
the following criteria (i) tangible results achievable within 2-3 years; (ii) complementing and adding value to ongoing
activities of public and private sector stakeholders; and (iii) having the potential to significantly increase the yields of
basmati rice, improve the efficiency of the upstream segment of the basmati value chain, and integrate the upstream more
effectively with the midstream and downstream segments of the value chain, sources added.
Source: Iran Raises Import Duty on Indian Rice Tasnim News Agency

4th Agust, 2014 Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter by Riceplus Magazine

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