Dear Readers,



We are pleased to share the October issue of the Asia Pacific Food Price and Policy Monitor, which aims to provide up-to-date information on price and policy developments in the Asia-Pacific region.



Highlights of the October 2014 issue are:



*       General inflation in the region slowed to 3.9 percent from 5.1 percent, while food price inflation persisted at 3.9 percent in September.
*       Rice prices in the Philippines were 15.4 percent higher than last year for regular-milled varieties, and 15.9 percent higher for well-milled varieties.
*       Rice prices in Sri Lanka are 35.8 percent higher than one year ago, with drought expected to reduce rice output by 22 percent compared to last year.
*       Bangladesh will export 50 000 tonnes of rice to drought-stricken Sri Lanka, its largest export of non-fragrant rice since independence in 1971.
*       South Korea increased its subsidy to rice farmers by 10 percent to boost production and reduce dependency on rice imports.
*       Iraq cancelled September's tender for rice imports because of spreading conflict.
*       Preliminary estimates are that 971 000 hectares of crops in Pakistan have been damaged by floods.



For further details please refer to the attachment.



The Asia Pacific Food Price and Policy Monitor and other previous publications on food price information can be found at: http://www.fao.org/asiapacific/rap/home/apfppm/en/.

For readers who may have questions on the publication, please contact us at  [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>.



Best regards,



Economic, Social and Policy Assistance Group (ESP)

FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

Bangkok

Thailand




########################################################################

To unsubscribe from the Food-Asia-L list, click the following link:
&*TICKET_URL(Food-Asia-L,SIGNOFF);