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Support price for rice likely to be increased

India is likely to raise the price it pays to local farmers to buy rice in the new season which began this month, the food minister said on Thursday, a move that could help the government win political support but also stoke inflation. The world’s second-biggest rice producer is expected to harvest at least 87 million tonne of summer-sown rice, adding to existing stocks of 22.7 million tonne. The government procures grain for its .....

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Malaysia turns to South Asian rice

Malaysia will source rice cargoes from India and Pakistan to meet its import needs after floods swamped farms and mills in Thailand, the world's largest exporter of the grain, the Star newspaper reported on Friday. It quoted Deputy Agriculture Minister Johari Baharum as saying that while Malaysia has a stockpile of close to one million tonnes of rice that can last more than five months, it was awaiting a consignment from .....

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Wheat exports sluggish as global prices are low

India could export only 21,585 tonnes of wheat after the nearly four-year-old ban on its exports was lifted early last month as the global prices were lower than the domestic rates. On September 9, the government lifted the ban on wheat exports, imposed in early 2007, as the country had produced a record 85.93 million tonnes in 2010-11 crop year (July-June). "The country has .....

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FCI plans record rice procurement

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) aims to procure a record 35.30 million tonnes (mt) of rice in 2011-12 on expectations of a bumper crop. During the previous financial year (2010-11), it had procured 32.70 mt of rice. The procurement data include those by FCI, state agencies (which procure for central pool) and levy rice (procured by millers). A senior FCI official said the procurement target for 2011-12 had been kept on the higher side in .....