Malaysia to continue to import rice

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will continue to depend on rice imports as the country’s production of the grain is nearly 30% short from the three million metric tonnes (MT) self sufficiency level (SSL). Agriculture and Agrobased Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the industry is expected to narrow the SSL gap from 72% presently to 80%, but the country will remain dependent on other countries for its rice supplies. He said the industry has to cope with the rising population and demands, ageing farmers, pest attacks and harvesting process inefficiencies. “We do have enough facilities, but very often a lot of the crop is lost after the harvesting process. Sometimes due to pests, sometimes due to carelessness, and sometimes due to complications during the processes after harvesting the crop. “It cannot be avoided entirely and that is why we are doing what we can to ensure the farmers are informed on how they can reduce crop wastage,” he said at the National Paddy Conference in Petaling Jaya yesterday. Based on the three million MT SSL, a household on average consume about 100kg of rice annually. There are about 674,548ha of area planted with the world’s second most important crop. Malaysia was the world’s 14 biggest rice importer based on value at US$377.4 million (RM1.59 billion) or 2% of global imports in 2016.China was the world’s largest rice importer valued at US$1.6 billion. The world’s most populous nation’s rice imports had risen 40.9%. India was the largest exporter of the grain valued at US$5.3 billion or 26.7% of total rice exports, followed by Thailand at US$4.4 billion (21.9%) and the US at US$1.9 billion (9.6%). Ahmad Shabery said that 80% of rice production is sufficient for the country’s population. “This is because 15% to 20% of the 31.19 million population does not consume rice or only prefer certain kinds of rice, which are not available in locally,” he said, adding that no one country produced all the different rice types. He also launched a standard operating procedure by The Malaysian Agr iculture Research and Development Institute to aid farmers to reduce loss after harvesting rice. He said Malaysia does not intend to become a net rice exporter. “First, it is the price. Are we able to offer competitive prices that meet the retail markets worldwide? “Secondly, we must look at the subsidy. Once we begin to export with the subsidy, the more we export, the more we lose. Exporting will do more harm than good,” he said.

spices export rises 35% in first quarter

KOCHI: Helped by large shipments of chilli, spices exports from India grew 35 per cent in quantitative terms in the first quarter of fiscal 2017–18.

The total export of spices rose to 3,06,990 tonnes in terms of quantity during the period from 2,27, 938 tonnes a year ago.
Chilli became the most exported spice during April–June 2017 with the shipment of 1,33,000 tonnes. “Chilli has been the most demanded Indian spice and has fulfilled the increasing international demand for quality spices in global markets. Moreover, Board’s efforts to promote garlic have resulted in substantial increase in its exports,” said Spices Board chairman A Jayathilak.
Garlic has registered the maximum growth in terms of quantity and value. It contributed substantially to the overall exports during the period, rising 169 per cent in quantity. Fennel registered a growth of 92 per cent in quantity. The exports of other seed spices such as mustard, aniseed and dill seed grew by 83 per cent in quantity.
Increased demand for processed and value added spices resulted in an increase in the exports of curry powder and pastes, along with spice oils and oleoresins, accounting for a significant part in the spices export basket of the first quarter of the current fiscal, said a Spices Board release.

Indian Spices Exports

Pulses export policy change totake time to fructify

A year after Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian pressed for lifting ban on export of pulses, the government ended the 10-year-old ban on September 18. This comes in conjunction with the import restriction on tur dal (pigeon pea) to 0.2 million tonnes, and on urad dal (split black gram) and moong dal (split green gram) together to 0.3 million tonnes for 2017-18.

Pulses have thus come a long way — from banned exports and free imports for the past 10 years to free exports limited to three dals and restricted imports with a 10 per cent tax as of today. But, prior to banned exports, India exported a variety of pulses, including urad, moong, masur (lentils), tur and chickpeas (chana). Just after the year 2016-17 that saw the highest availability of pulses — close to 30 million tonnes (mt), including 6.6 mt of imports — India is ready to export them again. Considering the consumption of pulses in India at 22 mt, about eight mt is possibly stocked.

The first few export registrations totaling 200 tonnes have been received by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) in the first 10 days. With renewed exports, here is an attempt to throw light on questions that need urgent attention.

Price insulation from international market
Due to an export ban, the pulses market in India was characterized mostly by consumption catered to by a combination of production and imports. “Pulses prices in India were a product of domestic demand and supply, and were insulated from the international market,” A K Gupta, director at Apeda, told Business Standard. But still, as India is the biggest producer and consumer of pulses in the world, international prices have always trended along with Indian pulses prices.
While the prices in India floated below international prices till the end of 2015, the drought impact of 2015 that severely reduced production inflated domestic pulses prices. Since then, Indian prices have remained above the international
In India, fluctuating tur dal prices followed the ‘cobweb model’. As a response to drought, reduced productivity and thus production, prices of tur dal doubled in 2015, which prompted farmers to sow more tur (and other pulses, too) in the next year, 2016. Sowing of tur increased 50 per cent in September 2016 over September 2015, which resulted in record production of 4.8 mt of tur dal. In the following year, from September 2016 to September 2017, the wholesale price of tur (unprocessed unsplit beans) at Gulbarga mandi, Karnataka, dropped 33 per cent from Rs 7,000 a quintal to Rs 4,500 a quintal, while the price of ready-to-cook tur dal in Mumbai, one of India’s biggest consumer mandis, dropped 34 per cent from Rs 115 a kg to Rs 75 a kg.Whereas the wholesale price of tur dal available on top global online marketplace alibaba.com ranges from $250-$400 a tonne, or Rs 16-26 a kg. International market agencies cite similar lower-than-Indian-dal prices: India Infoline data pegs moong from Tanzania at Rs 4,100 a quintal; marketonmobile pegs tur from Malawi at Rs 3,300 a quintal.

The average price of tur dal imported in India — which can be taken as representative of international price — during April-June 2017 was Rs 40 a kg, half the price of Rs 82 a kg in April-June 2016.

Lentil and peas production in Canada has improved, and record exports have been registered, according to some sources. India will not import from Myanmar this season (2017-18) since imports are capped and taxed, making Burmese pulses available cheaper in the international market. African pulses production has increased 10 per cent, resulting in an international pulses supply glut.  Thus, though farmers are getting a remuneration below the minimum support price (MSP) benchmark, the Indian dal price (at least in the case of tur) is still less competitive for exports. But, all hope is not lost, according to representatives of the pulses value chain. “This is a studied decision by the government which will make price discovery naturally evolved and transparent. Though immediate wonders are not expected, export value chains would potentially be established in about six months, since Indian pulses command a premium owing to their quality,” Pravin Dongre, chairman at the India Pulses and Grains Association, told Business Standard.

Pulses exports imports 

Oil slips after entering bull on kurdish export threat

LONDON (Bloomberg) -- Oil prices slipped after entering a bull market amid heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, while Trafigura Group and Citigroup Inc. both warned of a looming supply squeeze.

Crude in New York fell 0.7% as traders cashed in after yesterday’s 3.1% surge. The oil market is nearing the end of the “lower-for-longer” era, with a shortage likely in 2019, trading house Trafigura said Tuesday. In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “close the valves” on oil shipments from Kurdistan after the Iraqi region held a vote on independence.

Oil has gained almost 10% this month on forecasts for rising consumption and as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries maintain output cuts to drain a global glut. The market rebalancing has helped flip the futures curve into backwardation, a structure where immediate deliveries of oil are more expensive than longer-dated ones, signaling strong demand. Brent prices jumped to a two-year high on Monday before retreating Tuesday.

“It’s pure profit-taking,” Torbjorn Kjus, an oil-market analyst at DNB Bank ASA in Oslo, said by phone. “It’s very natural. The most natural thing would be if we lose some more during the day, but so far it’s holding up almost unexpectedly well after that very large rally yesterday.”

West Texas Intermediate for November delivery was at $51.86/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 36 cents, at 8:46 a.m. local time. Total volume traded was 31% above the 100-day average. Prices surged to $52.22 on Monday, more than 20% above their most recent low -- a definition of a bull market.

Brent for November settlement dropped 75 cents to $58.27/bbl on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange after rising as much as 0.8% earlier. Prices advanced $2.16 to $59.02 on Monday, the highest close since July 2015. The global benchmark traded at a premium of $6.41 to WTI on Tuesday.

The effect of OPEC’s curbs could be amplified if the vote in the Iraqi enclave of Kurdistan provokes a political crisis, threatening more than 500,000 bpd of shipments to global markets. Ankara opposes an independent Kurdish state and has economic leverage because the export pipeline runs through Turkey to the Mediterranean. Oil from fields controlled by the Kurdish Regional Government and the federal Iraqi government’s North Oil Co. was flowing normally through the pipeline on Monday, according to two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

600 kg gold imports from Indonesia; govt mulling curbs

New Delhi, Sep 18 () Worried over a surge in gold imports from Indonesia that crossed 600 kg in the last two months, the government is considering ways to check the increase in the in-bound shipments, a government official said.
A decision to this effect is expected this week only, the official added.
The government has recently imposed restrictions on imports of the precious metal from South Korea on account of jump in gold imports from that country.
Because of this, the official said, the in-bound shipments are now increasing from Indonesia.
The imports in the case of Indonesia are different from those of Korea as the gold coming from the South-east Asian island nation is mostly mined gold whereas from South Korea, it was originating in some other country and was being routed through Korea for value addition prior to exports.
"Over 600 kg of gold came in from Indonesia in the last two months. We are looking into it and a decision is likely by the end of the week," the official said.
Importers have been taking advantage of the free trade agreement between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) with which a free trade agreement is in place since 2009. Under this pact, the basic Customs duty on gold is nil.
Indonesia is a member of the 10-nation Asean group.
Following the rollout of Good and Services Tax (GST), a 3 per cent Integrated GST (IGST) is being levied on gold imports. This compares to the earlier 12.5 per cent countervailing duty imposed prior to July 1, thereby making imports cheaper.
Officials from Customs, Commerce and the Reserve Bank would meet this week to decide on what could be the possible way to deal with this import surge.

India still highly dependent on edible oil imports: ICRA

Despite steady improvement in oilseeds production, India has to go long way as import dependence for edible oils remain high, feels ICRABSE -1.83 %.

In a report released on Monday, ICRA said that over the years, the agriculture sector in India has made considerable progress in increasing the yields and hence production, particularly in respect of food crops such as wheat and rice. However, in case of oilseeds, the performance has not been equally creditable.
According to ICRA, India occupies a prominent position in the world oilseeds industry with contribution of around 10% in worldwide production. But the demand of edible oils (extracted from oilseeds in addition to palm oil) is significantly higher than the domestic production, leading to dependence on imports (60% of requirement). In FY2016 India’s total edible oil demand stood at 24 mn tonnes out of which 9 mn tonnes was met from domestic production and 15 mn tonnes met from imports. The latter valued at around Rs. 65,000 crore, constituted around 2.5% of India’s total import bill.
Says Sachin Sachdeva, Associate Head & AVP – Corporate Ratings, ICRA, “Over the last ten years, the oilseeds production in the country has increased to around 34 mn tonnes in FY2017 from 24 mn tonnes in FY2007. Considering the importance of oilseeds, and the high level of imports, various oilseeds development schemes have been funded by the government to encourage cultivation of oilseeds and palm. There has been some progress in increasing the area under cultivation and improving yields, but the growth has been slow. Average yield of various oilseeds crops in India, though improved, is lower than world average and significantly lower than other major oilseeds producing nations.” As area under oilseeds has been almost stagnant during the last decade, there is little scope for extension of area given the competing demands. Thus yield rates need to be stepped up significantly in order to increase the production of oilseeds.

The government is currently running ‘National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP)’ to encourage the adoption of newly released varieties and improved agro-techniques in oilseed crops. The mission targets increasing production of oilseeds to 42 mn tonnes by FY2022 from estimated 34 mn tonnes in FY2017. ICRA estimates that this can help lower the proportion of imports in total edible oil consumption in the country to around 55% in FY2022 from around 60% in FY2017, translating into saving of around Rs. 6,500 crore of foreign exchange.

The key constraints limiting the growth in production of oilseeds include lack of suitable varieties, high-costs of cultivation, lack of timely availability of inputs, and low & fluctuating prices. As the majority of the area under oilseeds cultivation is still rain fed (around 75%), there is significant impact of vagaries of monsoon on the overall productivity of oilseeds crops.
Mr. Sachdeva concludes: “The key to improve oilseeds production lies in ensuring the availability of quality seeds, bridging the awareness gap in farmers regarding better techniques, developing supportive infrastructure facilities and ensuring an efficiently managed market for better price recovery.
New location-specific high yielding varieties should be developed. Investment in oilseeds research and development is a key element and should be stepped up. Dissemination of technology is equally important and needs to be strengthened through effective agricultural extension system”.

oilseeds Import India

oilseeds Export Import

Indonesia Iron Ore Imports Static in April 2017

Indonesian import statistics showed that the countrys iron ore imports were 508,000 tons in April of this year, remained flat compared with the same period last year; while the average import price was ta US$87.10/ton, up by 89% compared with the same period of last year.
During January-April of this year. Indonesias iron ore imports totaled around 1.66 million tons, increased by 0.6% compared with the same period of last year. Meanwhile, Indonesias iron ore is mainly imported by 2 state-owned miners such as Krakatau Steel and Krakatau Posco.

Indonesia iron ore imports