HomeAbout UsProductsTestimonialsLinks Photo GalleryUseful InfoContact Us
Navigation:    Home
Print E-mail
Rice export outlook still healthy
PHUSADEE ARUNMAS - Wednesday July 16, 2008

Thailand's rice export outlook remains promising, based on the 46% year-on-year rise in volume to 6.3 million tonnes in the first half of the year, according to the Foreign Trade Department.

Apiradi Tantraporn, the department's director-general, said the value of rice exports from Jan 1 to July 14 totalled US$37 billion or 119.04 billion baht, up 129% in dollar terms and 110% in baht from the same period the year before.

''Rice exports are likely to decline slightly in the July-August period due to the rainy season, but will rise from October to December,'' she said. ''The export volume is expected to average 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes per month and reach 9.5 million tonnes as targeted for the whole year.''

She said the department planned a roadshow to promote Thai jasmine and organic rice in France.

However, she conceded, Thailand had not yet received any rice purchase orders under government-to-government deals from any countries. Even Indonesia had not placed an order because it could now produce enough rice for local consumption this year.

Chookiat Ophaswongse, the president of the Rice Exporters Association, said exports this month were expected to reach 900,000 tonnes in volume for the whole month.

Most orders are for parboiled rice placed by Nigeria with selling prices ranging from $760 to $800 per tonne. However, purchase orders for white and jasmine rice remain small. He said the increased orders for parboiled rice were coming from African market as India had suspended white rice exports.

He projected rice exports could reach 10-11 million tonnes this year if India continued its export suspension.Mr. Chookiat conceded rice prices were expected to drop in the second half of this year, but believed farmers would not experience difficulties because the overall prices this year were likely to remain higher than last year's.

Commenting on news reports that Deputy Commerce Minister Banyin Tangpaporn had hinted at opening a bid to sell rice to exporters, Mr Chookiat said it was not an appropriate time for such actions because G-to-G purchase orders from Iran and Indonesia remained small for now.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/160708_Business/16Jul2008_biz51.php
 
[ Back ]
Make Quote
Ominco Profile

Latest News

April 20-- Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd. expects to reduce milk powder inventories amid increased demand from China, the New Zealand Herald reported, citing Chairman Henry van der Heyden.

Fonterra expects to sell 160,000 tons of milk powder in China this year, about three times last year’s sales, van der Heyden said. Demand for foreign milk powder has increased after a scandal over contamination of local milk, the newspaper said.

Inventory levels will probably be back to normal seasonal levels by July 31, van der Heyden said.
 
BANGKOK, April 21- Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, plans to open a tender in the next two weeks to sell 3.76 million tonnes of the grain from its stocks, the country's commerce minister said on Tuesday.

Exporters said they feared the move could push Thai rice prices down 10 percent over the next few weeks.

Around 3 million tonnes would be sold through a tender, for export only, while another 760,000 tonnes would be sold on the Agriculture Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET), Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai said.

"We have to release the stocks as the government wants to cut storage costs of up to 137 million baht per month," she told reporters, adding the exact tender date had not yet been set. The Thai currency figure is equivalent to $3.9 million.

Porntiva said the government also wanted to sell some of its stock quickly as it feared prices would drop further if India lifted a ban on rice exports imposed in October 2007 when it was concerned about domestic supplies.

The ban helped push world prices to record highs last year.

India, which vies with Vietnam as the world's second biggest rice exporter, has allowed the export of up to 15,000 tonnes of non-basmati rice to Nepal and was likely to lift a rice export ban after its general elections in May.

The government is likely to suffer a big loss on its rice, which it bought at elevated prices to help farmers.

It paid farmers 12,000 baht ($338) per tonne for paddy during an intervention scheme that ended in February, which would give a price of around $600 per tonne for milled rice for export, well above current market prices of around $550 per tonne.

The government was estimated to hold another 2 million tonnes of rice it bought from farmers in the latest intervention scheme, starting in mid-March, said a Commerce Ministry official.

Under this new scheme, the intervention price is only marginally lower at 11,800 baht per tonne for paddy.

Thailand exported 10 million tonnes of rice in 2008 and is expected to export 8 million tonnes this year.

DEPRESSING PRICES

The Thai Rice Exporters Association said prices could fall around 10 percent over the next few weeks because of the government sale, at a time when demand is weak.

"That amount of 3.76 million tonnes is too big and will definitely depress prices as supply is flooding the market," said Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the association.

Traders elsewhere agreed.

"If they have to sell such large quantities within two weeks, it will surely drag down prices. Thailand is most expensive at the moment and the impact of this sale will be good for buyers," said a manager with a Singapore-based trading house.

Demand now was thin, and the price of benchmark Thai 100 percent B grade white rice RI-THWHB-P1 would drop further to around $500 per tonne, he said.

The benchmark rice was quoted at $550 per tonne on Tuesday, unchanged from last week.

However, another trader in Singapore said price falls could be limited.

"There's not much being offered from Vietnam, and India is still out of the market, so any downward move in prices will be limited as supplies are a bit tight," the trader said. ($1=35.54 Baht)
 
Boorama-Lug)-Waxa maanta magaalada Boorama soo gaadhay 3 baabuur oo ah nooca looyaqaan Waaraadka oo sida shixnado bariis ah oo lagu qiyaasay 1350 kiis oo bariis ah...
Read more...
 
Thai and Vietnamese rice exporters are planning to make an official declaration that they have no genetically modified rice in production in a bid to enhance their sales on the global market
Read more...
 
Although the government is expecting bumper rice harvest this year due to good monsoon, it has no plan to relax ban on rice exports, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said Wednesday.
Read more...
 
Indian sugar futures opened up on Tuesday as low cane acreage and less rainfall in parts of Maharashtra, a leading producer, may lower sugar output more than expected, analysts said.
Read more...
 
Thailand's rice export outlook remains promising, based on the 46% year-on-year rise in volume to 6.3 million tonnes in the first half of the year, according to the Foreign Trade Department.
Read more...
 
Make Quote

TESTIMONIALS

testi_omar.jpgDjama Omar Said
President & CEO,
Omaar Group of Companies

I believe in the slogan “a tree can only touch the skies, flower and flourish, when its roots are spread deep and wide in the soil” and our Group embody that same ideology. Best product and
 

Want to learn more?

  • H.O (UAE): +971 4 229 5424
  • Djibouti: +253 357562