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RICE
futures fell to a two-week low after US planting
accelerated and some Asian producers cracked down on
speculative hoarding of the grain, easing concern about
a global food crisis.
Farmers
in the
US,
the world’s third-largest exporter, planted 44 percent
of their rice crop as of April 27, up from 26 percent a
week earlier, the government said. Thailand announced on
Tuesday it was releasing 2.1 million metric tons of rice
from state stockpiles, while Vietnam banned speculators
from its domestic market this week.
Rice,
the staple food for half the world, costs more than
twice as much as a year ago as China, Vietnam and India
curbed exports this year. Price rises stoked social
tension and led to hoarding in some countries. Wal-Mart
Stores Inc.’s Sam’s Club limited purchases of the grain
in US stores.
“It’s an
issue for food security and governments in the world
have actively been responding to surging rice prices,’”
Kazuhiko Saito, strategist at Interes Capital Management
Co. in Tokyo, said by phone on Wednesday. “The price had
gone up too much and too fast on speculation.”
Futures
fell for a fifth day on Wednesday, and have plunged as
much as 12.6 percent from a record $25.07 per 100 pounds
reached April 24 in Chicago. Thailand and Brazil said
they won’t curb exports and Pakistan announced plans to
export 2.5 million tons.
The
July-delivery contract fell as much as $1.025, or 4.5
percent, to $21.905 per 100 pounds, the lowest since
April 15, in after-hours electronic trading on the
Chicago Board of Trade and stood at $22.40 at 10:38 a.m.
Singapore time. The price dropped as much as the
exchange-imposed maximum in the previous four days.
Food
challenge
Food
prices are creating the biggest challenge the UN World
Food Program has faced in its 45-year history,
“threatening to plunge more than 100 million people on
every continent into hunger,” the agency said April 22.
UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday he will chair
a new task force to tackle the situation. The crisis is
an “unprecedented challenge” that has “multiple effects
on the most vulnerable,” Ban said. “We must feed the
hungry,” and “full funding” is needed, he said.
US
rice exporters reported sales of 25,800 tons in the week
ended April 17, down 85 percent from a week earlier. US
planting of the crop by April 27 is also behind the
five-year average of 58 percent for that date.
Thai
prices
The
price of 100 percent Grade B White Rice, the benchmark
export variety, reached a record $894 a ton on April 23,
compared with $854 on April 9 and $327.25 on average in
the same month last year, the Thai Rice Exporters
Association’s Web site showed.
Thailand
will gradually sell the 2.1 million tons of the grain
stored in state warehouses to domestic consumers as the
government tries to keep a lid on soaring prices, Prime
Minister Samak Sundaravej said Tuesday.
The
country hasn’t limited overseas sales and plans to ship
9 million tons this year, about a third of global
exports. (Bloomberg) |
