(News resource: http://www.tradearabia.com)
(11.29 Hamburg) Iran's state purchasing agency has issued another tender to purchase 30,000 tonnes of rice, European traders said on Monday. Shipment is in December, and offers must be submitted on November 29. Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, Argentina and Uruguay are accepted origins.
For more details of the news, please link to the webpage of Trade Arabia.
(Nov. 26) SOS Corporacion Alimentaria is to sell its rice division to Spanish food group Ebro Foods for EUR195m (US$261m). The deal, announced yesterday (25 November), could also lead to Ebro taking a 10% stake in SOS, which is selling EUR200m worth of shares to help restructure its debt and fund expansion. Announcing the sale of the rice business, the SOS board of directors said the cash will help the company reduce its debt, as well as concentrate on the development of its core business, olive oil. The SOS board said the group will also look to improve its competitive position in its main markets of Spain, Italy and the US, as well as the emerging markets of Brazil, China and Japan.
For more details, please link to the webpage of AFN.
Thai rice prices, the benchmark for Asia, declined 0.2 percent, the first drop in four weeks, as a weaker local currency made the grain cheaper for overseas buyers, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association. The price of 100 percent grade-B white rice dropped to $551 a metric ton from $552 the previous week and the price of 25 percent broken rice fell to $480 a ton from $481.
For more details, please link to the Bloomberg's webpage.
(News resource: http://www.bloomberg.com)
Japan bought 81,000 metric tons of foreign rice in a tender today, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said. Of the total, the ministry purchased 64,000 tons from the U.S. and 17,000 tons from Thailand, according to Kenji Okuhira at the grain trade division.
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India's food ministry plans to sell 2.5 million metric tons of wheat and rice from federal stocks to state governments for welfare programs, two senior government officials said. The sale of subsidized food grain will be completed by June. India's food grain stocks are more than double the requirement, and the government has been trying to reduce stocks to create storage space for the newly harvested summer-sown rice crop.
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The export of 300,000 tons of rice from India to Bangladesh has stalled as Bangladesh has sought a discount on the proposed sale price, complicating approvals for the shipment. Bangladesh has asked India to supply common grades of parboiled rice at slightly below $491.8 a ton. The request from Bangladesh has put the Indian government in a dilemma as it will have to sell way below the prevailing global price of $520-$540 a ton, and may also have to absorb some procurement costs.
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According to the saying of Thai Farmers Association president, this year's rice production in Thailand is expected to drop by about 20 per cent due to the massive flooding in the country. The country usually produces about 10 million tonnes of rice paddy per year. The extensive flood damage to rice fields is likely to cut the crop by about 20 per cent. However, the drop in production would not cause shortages of rice, either for domestic consumption or export, because the country still has a considerable amount of rice in stock.
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