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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | The US probe of rice trade won’t yield much -Tejinder Narang

The US probe of rice trade won’t yield much -Tejinder Narang

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published Published on Jul 14, 2014   modified Modified on Jul 14, 2014
-The Financial Express


Global rice trade doesn't operate on market principles. Rather, it is guided by politics, vested interests and weather

Rice is a political commodity. Governments all over the world maintain regimentation on rice production and trade through price controls and subsidisation, tariffs, phytosanitary and environmental safety standards-sometimes in a whimsical manner. On July 6, the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) notified investigations (to be completed by April 2015) on global competitiveness of the US rice "industry" as compared with other exporting countries like China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Uruguay, and Brazil-this assessment would also include practices adopted by major importing nations. The intention perhaps is to probe the morality of international rice trade.

US-milled rice, at $570-670/mt fob, is grossly out-priced, by at least $200-$250/mt, by rice of Asian origin. The US output is 7 mt (milled) with export of about 3 mt, mostly to Latin American nations. In 2014-15, India's and Thailand's exports may touch 10 mt each, with Vietnam trailing at 7 mt.

Despite the US's average paddy yield of 8-9 tonnes/ha-the world average is 4 tonne/ha-farm price of paddy is about $350/mt (that makes milled rice $580/mt at conversion factor of 0.66). In India, paddy is priced at $235/mt, in Vietnam, at $240-$260/mt and in Thailand, at $480/mt till recently (now, at around $260/mt). Is this difference in paddy prices that worry the US?

Market distortions

Paddy production in developing countries is incentivised through subvention of inputs like seed/fertiliser, etc, and higher procurement prices while rice is discounted to poor consumers for vote-bank politics. Exports of surpluses thus get directly or indirectly subsidised. At the same time, importing nations make rice expensive by imposing high tariffs to protect domestic production/ inefficiencies, which are again followed by subvention to the targeted beneficiaries, creating arbitrage opportunities for the market players.

Paddy can be processed to rice in many ways (raw, steamed, parboiled). By-products like husk, bran, bran oil and broken rice can also be traded. Export pricing of rice thus gets discounted with realisation from such collaterals. Long/medium/short-grain (non-basmati rice) and aromatic (basmati) varieties can be mingled to average out pricing. Like in any other business, for rice trade also, in the grey area of ethics of pricing a commodity, adherence to fair market practices is diluted due to multiplicity of options available.

India, Thailand and China

The Indian government determines a fixed Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy of non-basmati variety for the open-ended procurement by Food Corporation of India (FCI). The subsidised price for FCI is about 25% of the economic cost, which gets distributed to targeted beneficiaries accounting for leakage of around 40%-45%. Pilferages reach the market and are supportive of Indian rice exports.

Thailand discovered a novel paddy-pledging scheme in 2011 wherein farmers were remunerated 50% above market price by a government bank; till February 2014, that is. Local traders enriched themselves by smuggling cheaper paddy from Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam and selling it to Thai government at high prices. Currently, about 10 mt of low-quality, high-priced stocks are stuck and waiting to be auctioned by new military regime that has taken over in the country. The possibility of a distress sale cannot be ruled out and that can trigger collapse of rice prices and destabilise world markets.

China's rice polices on pricing/imports/exports are state-controlled and cannot be rationally discussed or analysed or investigated.

Importers as distorters

The antics of importers are of no lesser consequence. Nigerian authorities apply high import tariffs to support their own inefficient rice production. Imports of high-quality 5% parboiled rice of about 1.5 mt (out of a total of 2 mt) are shipped to neighbouring Benin and Cameroon to escape high duties, from where they are smuggled by land in to the Nigerian territory. Politicians and custom officials are the major beneficiaries. The government of the Philippines structures tenders on "duty-paid, destination-delivered basis", which includes inflated local cost of inland transport, compelling the hiring of services of handling agent(s) by the seller. Such agent(s) also become conduits for distribution of commissions. Allegations of corrupt deals between Vietnamese trading companies and the Philippines government, in the recent 800,000 tonnes tender, are already in public domain. The Iraqi government puts in Uruguay-leaning specifications in its tenders, preferring it over Thailand or India. Thus, imports are made much above the market prices. Such intricate tendering procedures lack transparency.

The US patented basmati as Kasmati/Texmati. This has irritated the Indians because the geographical indication is defied. The US and EU complain about some chemical content in Indian basmati rice, while Pakistan gets the approval though the farmers there operate under similar ecological conditions. China imports about 3 mt of non-basmati rice per annum from Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan while India stands ignored. If Pakistan is deemed acceptable, then denial to India is questionable. Iran imports 1121-basmati rice from India under rupee payment. Some buyers and sellers conclude agreements with a blend of basmati and non- basmati for commercial viability.

Thus, the global rice trade is full of distortions and discriminations, including the lack of WTO compliance by many nations. Can international competitiveness and cheaper domestic values be regulated when politics, weather and food security dictate rice policies/prices. Can USITC come up with a universal remedy? Let us wait and watch.

The author is a grains trade analyst


The Financial Express, 14 July, 2014, http://www.financialexpress.com/news/the-us-probe-of-rice-trade-won-t-yield-much/1269609/0


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