Global Snapshot: Thai Rice Output From Main Crop May Fall 5.3% on Flooding

(News resource: http://www.bloomberg.com)

Rough rice output from the main harvest in Thailand, the world’s biggest exporter, may drop by 5.3 percent as the worst floods in five decades devastated crops, according to the Office of Agricultural Economics. Prices will stay high because of increasing demand amid declining output from major supplies after floods destroyed rice crops in Thailand and Pakistan, Apichart Jongskul, the office’s secretary-general, said today. Thai rice prices, the benchmark for Asia, surged to a nine- month high of $567 a metric ton on Dec. 2, boosted by year-end demand. The price was quoted at $565 on Dec. 22, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association.

For more details, please link to the webpage of bloomberg.com.

Global Snapshot: Thai Farmers Threaten To Dump Paddy At Government House

(News Resource: http://www.bernama.com)

Thai rice farmers have threatened to dump paddy in front of Government House after the New Year, if the government did not take any initiatives to solve the problem of falling rice prices, Thai media reported Thursday. Wichian Phuanglamchiak, vice president of the Thai Farmers Association, said on Thursday that he had discussed the issue with representatives of farmers from over 40 provinces and most of them were upset with the government's slack in tackling the problem, China's Xinhua news agency cited Bangkok Post online as saying.

For more details of the news, please link to the webpage of Bernama.com.

[Taiwan News] COA minister sees agriculture as key to nation's futu

Although Taiwan’s more lucrative, high-end industries are widely thought to have left agriculture in the dust, in the eyes of Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Wu-hsiung, it is not a sunset industry.

“On the contrary, with a global food crisis looming as a result of climate change and natural disasters, it is evolving into an industry of ever-increasing strategic importance,” Chen said.

In an exclusive interview with Taiwan Today, Chen talked about how the role of agriculture is more crucial than ever, and how the industry should revolutionize itself if it seeks to prosper in the future.

See more details,please click the website of COA TAIWAN

Global Snapshot: Rice Husks Provide Alternative to Chinese Coal in Cambodia

(News resource: http://www.fastcompany.com)

The Cambodian rice miller and exporter, Angkor Kasekam Roongroeung (AKR), is set to launch its rice husk-powered electricity generator at the start of next year, enabling the company to double its rice exports to 70,000 tons per year.

The plant comes with community perks, too. AKR will sell its excess electricity to nearby villagers at $0.22 cents per kilowatt, lower than the $0.27 per kilowatt price they would normally pay for power from the national grid.

For more details, please link to the webpage of FastCompany.com.

Global Snapshot: Cambodian tobacco, rice to be tax-exempt to Vietnam

(News resource: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn)

Rice and dried tobacco leaves imported from Cambodia in 2010 and 2011 will not be subject to import tax, the Ministry of Finance has said. Under Circular No 37/2010/TT – BTC that becomes effective on January 17, 2011, the zero rate will apply to goods registered with customs offices from November 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010 and declared rice and tobacco from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011.

For more details, please link to the webpage of VNS.

Global Snapshot: Japan Seeks 60,000 Tons of Foreign Rice in Tender

(News resource: http://www.bloomberg.com)

Japan is seeking to import 60,000 metric tons of rice in a tender on Dec. 14, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). Of the total, the government plans to buy 13,000 tons from the U.S. and 11,000 tons from Thailand, with the remainder from any country, according to the ministry’s grain-trade division.

For more details, please link to the webpage of Bloomberg.

Global Snapshot: USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates

(News resoruce: http://www.bloomberg.com)

USDA has release its report of supply and demand estimates. Regarding to U.S. rice export in the report, there's a larger-than-expected export commitments of medium-grain milled rice to North Africa led to the increase in the combined medium- and short-grain export projection. Although export commitments of long-grain rice through November have been strong, the pace of additional sales will likely slow as U.S. prices have become less competitive with Thailand and Vietnam.

For more details about the report, please link to the webpage of Bloomberg for a text one, or the website of USDA for a completed one.

Global Snapshot: Persistent Rains In Eastern Australia To Help Crops

(News resouce: oryza.com)

According to official rainfall data for the month of November, key wheat production regions in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland received up to three times their monthly average rainfall. Eastern Australia appears to have finally broken the grip of the longest and most severe drought in recorded history.

For more details of the news, please link to the webpage of oryza.com.

Global Snapshot: (India) Farmers' plea to Kiran on rice export

(New resource: http://www.hindu.com/)

The Confederation of Farmers' Associations led by Lok Satta Party president Jayaprakash Narayan and farmers' leaders have appealed to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to convince the Centre for removing restrictions on export of non-Basmati rice. They requested the Chief Minister during a meeting with him here on Monday to make out a strong case for sale of rice in the international market at the meeting of Economic Affairs Empowered Committee on Tuesday at Delhi and help farmers get a good price.

For more details of the news, please link to the webpage of Hindu.com.

Global Snapshot: Vietnam raises rice export floor prices

(News resource: http://news.yahoo.com/)

According to Dec. 3 Reuters news, Vietnam raised the export floor price for 5 percent broken rice by 13.7 percent on Friday to $540 a tonne, the Vietnam Food Association said. It also increased the minimum export price for 25 percent broken rice to $480 a tonne, free-on-board basis, from $445 in place since Nov. 12, and said the new floors were applied for deals with shipment during December. VFA did not give any further details.

For more details, please link here to read the news on Yahoo.com.

(New resource: http://westernfarmpress.com)

Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have developed a rice crop that is not only drought tolerant but high yielding despite the lack of water. These genotypes have been dispersed to other Asian countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines. The study was funded by the Asian Development Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and can be found in the November – December 2010 issue of Crop Science.

For more details, please link to the webpage of Western Farm Press.