Dear Subscriber,
We are pleased to send you the new issue of the FAO Rice Price Update:
Brief commentary:
ˇ In March 2014, the FAO All Rice Price Index (2002-2004=100) averaged 238 points, virtually unchanged from February. However, movements diverged across market segments, with a pronounced fall in the price of the higher quality Indica compensating for slightly stronger quotations of Japonica, lower quality Indica and aromatic rice.
ˇ Comparing the various origins, export prices were generally under downward pressure in Asia, coinciding with the suspension of the offseason round of the 2013/14 paddy pledging scheme and heavy sales of rice from public stocks in Thailand. As a result, the benchmark Thai white 100%B dropped by 7.7 percent to USD 430 per tonne, its lowest level since January 2008. Competition from Thailand and large supplies also weighed on India and Viet Nam's prices, while a strengthening of the currency helped sustain quotations in Pakistan. Prices in the Americas held firm in March, a reflection of relatively tight supplies and of recent tender awards by Iraq to Argentina and Uruguay and by Japan to the USA.
ˇ Over January-March 2014, the FAO All Rice Price Index averaged 234 points, which compares with 237 points in the same period last year. However, at the market segment level, the differences were far wider, with the lower quality Indica prices falling by more than 17 percent and the higher quality Indica by 8 percent. In the Aromatic rice segment, the drop was far more contained, at 1 percent. Diverging from the general tendency, Japonica prices averaged 13 percent higher in the first three months of the year compared with January-March 2013, reflecting prospects of a further tightening of export availabilities in Australia and the United States.
For more information on prices, you may wish to consult the International Commodity Price Database http://www.fao.org/economic/est/statistical-data/est-cpd/en/, which gives access to weekly prices of major traded products, including the high quality Thai white rice 100% B and the 100 % broken rice Thai A1 Super, from 1989 onwards. Monthly international and domestic prices for rice and other selected commodities in 83 countries are available through the Food Price Data and Analysis Tool (http://www.fao.org/giews/pricetool/).
You might also be interested to visit the FAO World Food Situation portal, which provides monthly updates on the World Cereal Supply and Demand Situation and Outlook (http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/en/).
Kind regards,
Concepción
Concepción Calpe
Senior Economist,
Secretary, Intergovernmental Group on Rice
Trade and Markets Division
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, Italy
D-803
Tel. 39-06-570 54136
Fax 39-06-570 54495
e-mail: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
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