supplies, reviving prospects of an OPEC-like cartel of key producers,
the head of a leading Indian rice trading firm said on Thursday.
The idea of an OPEC-like cartel failed to take off after initial
deliberations two years ago when the world faced an acute shortage of
the staple, driving benchmark prices in Thailand to a record high of
$1,000 a tonne.
"I now see a possibility of an alliance of producers like Thailand,
Vietnam, China and India, among others. It will bring stability in
prices which are heading southward," Karan A Chanana, managing director
of the Amira group, a leading rice producer, told Reuters in an interview.
A body of key rice producing nations will help stave off expected fall
in prices in both India and Asia, said Chanana, also a former
secretary-general of the All India Rice Exporters' Association .
The price of 100 B grade Thai white rice RI-THWHB-P1, at $460 per tonne,
has fallen more than a quarter since the middle of December, and traders
in the Thailand, the world's top exporter, say prices are expected to
drop further due to swelling supplies in the region. See [ID:nSGE64P0B5]
EXPORT BAN
While forming a consortium of producers would arrest a sharp drop in
Asian prices, lifting a two-year old ban on exports of non-basmati rice
would help India avoid a glut.
"The government must allow exports of non-basmati rice after the monsoon
season to avoid any excess stock. There is a case for non-basmati
exports now," Chanana said.
The government prefers to watch the progress of monsoon before easing
trade curbs, as the annual June-September rains irrigate 60 percent of
the country's farms.
India, the world's second-biggest producer of the grain, clamped down on
exports of common grades of rice in 2008, joining other leading
producers in their protectionist measures to bolster domestic supplies.
India has also fixed a floor price of $900 per tonne for exports of
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