Dear Subscribers,



We are pleased to send you the April issue of the FAO Rice Price Update. We are also enclosing a brief round-up of FAO’s latest global rice supply and demand outlook in hopes that it helps meet some market information needs that you may have, while we issue more exhaustive assessments.

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Price commentary of the month:



The FAO All Rice Price Index (2002-2004=100) rose for the third successive month in March 2020, reaching 232 points, up 1.7 percent from February and 4.7 percent above its year-earlier level. Indica prices drove the increase, as Japanese purchases provided only mild support (0.7 percent) to March Japonica values, while the Aromatic Index fell by 3.1 percent to a three-year low of 198 points, on weak Near Eastern demand.



As measured by their respective indices, quotations of higher quality Indica rice increased by 5.6 percent in March, while those of lower quality Indica were up by 3.2 percent. This placed them 13.5 percent and 8.1 percent above their March 2019 levels, respectively. India and Brazil were the sole Indica exporters to see March prices subside due to currency movements. Although currencies also depreciated in other suppliers, their influence on prices was overshadowed by concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. These unleashed a stockpiling rush by consumers and traders at a seasonally tight period that normally precedes the arrival of 2019 secondary crops in the northern hemisphere and of 2020 crops south of the Equator. In Viet Nam, which witnessed the sharpest monthly price rise, the stockpiling exacerbated upward pressure on prices exerted by a fast pace of sales earlier in the year. This prompted Vietnamese officials, on 25 March, to temporarily stop signings of new export contracts while they reviewed the country’s supply situation so as to issue revised export directives by 5 April. The news of potential Vietnamese export restrictions tended to buoy sentiment in other origins. This was especially the case in Thailand, where expectations of importers turning to Thailand to refurbish reserves provided a further boost to prices that had already been well underpinned by a drought-reduced offseason crop. At the same time, March trading activities in various suppliers were reported to be largely confined to fulfilling previous orders, amid uncertainties over logistical constraints posed by quarantine measures.

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For more information on prices, you can refer to the Food Price Monitoring and Analysis Tool (http://www.fao.org/giews/pricetool/), which gives access to quotations of major traded products, including the high quality Thai white rice 100% B and the 100% broken rice Thai A1 Super, from 2000 onwards. The site also hosts domestic (retail or wholesale) prices for major food commodities in 90 countries.

You may also be interested in:

  *   The FAO Rice Market Monitor: http://www.fao.org/economic/RMM/
  *   The FAO World Food Situation portal, in particular the monthly update on the World Cereal Supply and Demand Situation and Outlook:http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/en/
  *   The Monthly News Report on Grains: http://www.fao.org/economic/est/publications/grains-publications/monthly-news-report-on-grains-mnr/en/
  *   The Oilcrops Monthly Price and Policy Update (ten issues per year): http://www.fao.org/economic/est/publications/oilcrops-publications/oilcrops-monthly-price-and-policy-update/en/
  *   Meat and Meat Products – Price and trade update (four issues per year): http://www.fao.org/economic/est/est-commodities/meat/meat-and-meat-products-update/en/
  *   Milk and Milk products – Price and trade update (four issues per year): http://www.fao.org/economic/est/est-commodities/dairy/milk-and-milk-products/en/



Kind regards,

Shirley Mustafa
Economist
Trade and Markets Division
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, Italy
D-808
Tel. 39-06-570 52202
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
[cid:b67b3937-bb94-4195-afdd-c5374b0bde8d]

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