The NFA received offers priced from $468.50 to $600 per ton in the tender, which was held a month ahead of the typical date and calls for delivery between January and April. That compares with $525 a ton for 100 percent grade-B Thai white rice, the regional export benchmark price.
The Philippines is accelerating imports for next year on concern that domestic crop losses and a production shortfall in drought-hit India may cause prices to surge, Jessup Navarro, the NFA’s administrator, said Oct. 26. The Philippines lost about 1 million tons of rice from Tropical Storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma, which struck the country in September and October.
Rice for January delivery in Chicago jumped 11 percent in the past seven days and last traded 0.5 percent higher at $15.19 per 100 pounds as of 5:10 p.m. in Singapore. Futures reached a record $25.07 in April 2008 as a surge in food prices sparked protests around the globe.
The prices offered at today’s tender were “quite good,” Vic Jarina, deputy administrator of the NFA, said in an interview, adding that the supply contracts will be awarded next week. Another tender could be held in December if an assessment of the country’s rice supply outlook following the storms, scheduled to be completed this month, shows the need for more imports, he said.
Higher Stockpiles
The Philippines may import as much as 2 million tons next year, up from 1.78 million tons this year, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said Oct. 25. The NFA bought 75,000 tons from Pakistan and Thailand at $472.72 to $487 a ton in July.
The country’s rice stockpiles stood at 2.4 million tons at the end of October, up 8.8 percent from a year earlier, the NFA said in a report today. The stocks are enough for 68 days of supplies, the authority said.
India will buy 30,000 tons of rice this month, a government official said Oct. 30. This will be the country’s first rice imports since 2005-2006, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
The South Asian nation may buy an extra 250,000 tons later in November, Rakesh Singh, a trader at New Delhi-based Emmsons International Ltd. who correctly predicted last week that India would return to the import market, said yesterday.
India may buy as much as 3 million tons next year and become a net importer for the first time in 21 years, Samarendu Mohanty, a senior economist at the International Rice Research Institute, said Oct. 28.
Still, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said today that India has adequate stocks of foodgrains and the government isn’t planning to import.
No comments:
Post a Comment