The Rice Advocate Volume 7, Issue 29 July 23, 2010 In this issue: - Central American Rice Federation Elects New Officers - US Rice Producers Launch New Program in El Salvador - Greater Houston Partnership Press Conference: Cuba Pushes H.R. 4645 - Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative: From the National Resource Conservation Service - General Market Update - RiceTec Hybrid Rice Report (07/23) ----------------------- *Central American Rice Federation Elects New Officers* ----------------------- Last week in San Pedro Sula, Honduras the Federacion Centro Americana del Arroz (FECARROZ )met for their regular board meeting that was highlighted by the election of new officers for the 2010-2011 period. USRPA Congratulates to Michael Hawit Mahchi on being named the new President of FECARROZ. Mr. Hawitt, a rice miller and farmer from the San Pedro Sula area has been an active participant for many years in the organization, having served a previous term as the President. Other new officers include Fernando Chamorro of Nicaragua Vice-President, Rodolfo Soto of Costa Rica as Secretary, Carlos Mejia Alferez from El Salvador as Treasurer and Mario Solorzano from Guatemala as Parliamentarian. The FECARROZ board agenda included discussions on policy, trade with the EU, market conditions, pricing, regulatory concerns and related subjects. Samuel Reyes, Vice-President of the Republic of Honduras participated in the swearing in ceremony of the new officers and congratulated FECARROZ for their work. Dwight Roberts represented the US Rice Producers Association at the meeting. ----------------------- *US Rice Producers Launch New Program in El Salvador* ----------------------- A new program has been launched in El Salvador to increase the awareness and use of rice among consumers. The program is conducted in partnership with ASALBAR, the Salvadoran rice milling association. Billboards and radio advertisements are among the media being used to promote nutritional value, budget friendliness, versatility and ease of cooking. The Salvadoran rice industry is an important customer for U.S. grown rice. In 2009, El Salvador imported 110,000 metric tons of U.S. rice, primarily on a rough basis. In addition to this new promotion in El Salvador, the USRPA is continuing the school promotion which is a cooperative program with the US Dry Bean Council, the World Initiative for Soy In Human Health (US Soy) and the USA Rice Federation. ----------------------- Greater Houston Partnership Press Conference: Cuba Pushes H.R. 4645 ----------------------- Representatives of Texas agriculture and the Port of Houston Authority joined Jeff Moseley, President and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, today for a press conference stressing the need for the passing of the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2010. The purpose of the conference was to inform U.S. citizens and members of the U.S. Congress of the importance this legislation has to the country. During 2009, U.S. exports to Cuba were valued at $528 million while supporting $1.6 billion in total business activity and providing 8,600 jobs. Removal of U.S. travel and financial restrictions to Cuba would add $365 million/year to U.S. exports and bring an additional 6,000 more jobs and another $1.1 billion in additional business activity. The next step for this legislation will be addressed by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee. Participating in the press conference in addition to Mr. Moseley were Tom Paben (Texas Farm Bureau), Alec Dreyer (Port of Houston Authority), Parr Rosson (Texas A&M University), Steve Pringle (Texas Farm Bureau) and Dwight Roberts (US Rice Producers Association). The USRPA has been an active participant in this effort since the Trade Sanctions Reform & Export Enhancement Act of 2000 authorized the export of U.S. agricultural commodities to Cuba. This past March, Mike Wagner from the USRPA Board of Directors testified before the House Ag Committee in support of H.R.4645 on behalf of the U.S. rice industry. ----------------------- Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative: From the National Resource Conservation Service ----------------------- Through the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative, National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) will work with farmers, ranchers, and other landowners to develop and enhance habitat for birds making their annual migration south towards the Gulf of Mexico. NRCS will partner with producers to manage portions of their land to provide additional food and habitat for migrating birds. NRCS will provide financial and technical resources to agricultural producers to install practices which control water levels and enhance habitat to attract migratory birds. To achieve these goals, Texas is offering the following practice: Shallow Water Management for Wildlife (practice code 646) Financial assistance will be made available through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. Funding through this initiative is available to landowners in Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri. The sign-up will run from June 28 to August 1, 2010. Interested producers should contact their local USDA Service Center for additional information. From: Link to original article: http://www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/mbhi/index.html ----------------------- General Market Update ----------------------- In another small indicator that global rice prices may be seeing their expected lows, USDA left the World Market Price factors unchanged again this week. With about two weeks left in the 2009/10 marketing year, last week’s USDA export sales report posted 39,000 tons of new business. Over half of the new sales were rough rice split between 18,600 tons of long grain for Mexico and Honduras and 3,000 tons of new reported medium grain for Turkey. Long grain milled sales, after adjusting a previously posted “unknown” sale to show Turkey as the buyer, came in at a net of 12,900 tons with the biggest buyers being Turkey, Canada, Ghana, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Medium grain milled sales totaled 4,400 tons over half of which was bought by Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Sales have continued to be excellent right up to the end of the marketing year, and this pattern should be seen in the new crop as well. Export loadings for the week were strong again at 80,600 tons, with the lion’s share being posted in the long grain column: 2,500 tons of paddy for Mexico and over 40,000 tons of milled shipping primarily to Turkey, Haiti, and the United Kingdom. Medium/short grain figures were also very good with 12,000 tons of rough going to Turkey and nearly 22,000 tons of milled heading for Japan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Syria, Canada, and additional smaller destinations. The U.S. has exported a huge tonnage of rice this past year, and that is very good news for the industry. The bad news is that there is not nearly enough milled rice, particularly long grain milled rice, being sold and exported, and without some sort of assistance, this situation will only get worse to the detriment of the producer as well as the entire industry. The recent Iraq tender has been widely reported to have been awarded to Thailand (120,000 tons) and an optional origin (30,000 tons). This news has been particularly disappointing considering the reportedly very, very competitive levels at which U.S. long grain was offered. It is increasingly disgraceful that no consideration is given to America for the effort, expense, and sacrifice made for the direct benefit of the Iraqi people generally and the current Iraqi leadership particularly. This may seem mercenary on its face, but the fact is that friends remember what other friends do for them in times of need. Since the U.S. gets no consideration for being competitive price wise and superior quality wise, it begs the question as just what it takes to get U.S. long grain sold to Iraq. What is the reason that U.S. rice is not participating in Iraq when it should be doing just that in a very big way? What is Washington doing to help in this matter? It seems to be absolutely nothing. One positive that may come out of Congress is the bill now being considered that will open travel to Cuba. Although passage of this would not yield immediate results, it would be a major step in getting U.S. rice back into Cuba in a big way over the next year or two. Let’s hope our representatives don’t let us down on this legislation. With the rain in Texas finally taking a break, some cutting got underway on Friday with many producers being concerned about the results due to the continuous tropical downpours that hit in late June. As the pollination period gets into full swing, producers in northeast Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas are now expressing worry about rain that may be brought by tropical storm Bonnie. The earlier expectations of a huge long grain crop may be dulled a little by that storm, as current predictions call for Bonnie to take a path that includes nearly all of Louisiana and Mississippi, and the southern half of Arkansas. The rough rice market is fairly quiet as all watch and wait for the harvest to get into gear fully. There has been a bid of $10.60 per cwt green delivered Freeport dry basis seen in Texas and reports of bids around $15 per bbl in south Louisiana. Some small remnants of the old crop have traded as low as $9.00 delivered barge in the Delta/Arkansas area while new crops bids are being seen at a dollar under futures with no selling interest. News from Asia this week includes more talk about the monsoons in India – now said to be as much as 24% behind the amount expected by this time in the growing season, with government pronouncements being less confident than those of the past several weeks. There is also more talk China buying in the international rice market (read Vietnam and Thailand) and of dryness there which may have a substantial affect on the current rice crop. None of the potential shortfalls in these countries, however, seem to be critical in terms of ultimate availability, but instead very meaningful to domestic food inflation which needs to be kept at a minimum. Not necessarily rice related, but there is talk now of other countries, including Russia and Germany, expecting general crop shortfalls due to heat and dryness. In the meantime, Thai 100% Grade B quotes have eased a bit to the $440 to $450 fob vessel range with Thai parboiled slipping to $460 per ton. Viet 5% long grain has firmed slightly to $355 per ton, and Pakistani 5% is noted at $405 per ton. Rough rice futures had an interesting sideways to up movement during the week, which still has many cash buyers seeking the cause of the strength. Ending the consolidation of the last three weeks, Friday’s action saw the September contract break higher to start a short term up trend – further gains will have to be made to confirm that trend as long term. Friday’s settlement of the September position came in at 10.275 which was up 42 cents for the week. The July 2011 contract settled at 11.69 on Friday. For the week ending Thursday, open interest was up again by over 300 contracts (which is at least mildly positive), and daily volume averaged around 1,050 contracts per trading session. In other markets, the Dow recovered during the week and closed higher on Friday, the Euro was a little stronger at a little over 1.29 to the Dollar, and nearby crude futures were over $77 per bbl. ----------------------- RiceTec Hybrid Rice Report (07/23) ----------------------- The latest audio and PDF versions of the RiceTec Hybrid Rice Report have been posted at www.ricetec.com. You can download the audio version in mp3 format and transfer to your iPod or smartphone and carry with you, or print the crop report in PDF format. Included in this week’s report: - Harvest begins in TX and LA - Rice heading progress - Rains help Midsouth, but too much in areas - Rice stinkbugs and fall armyworms on the move - RiceTec Arkansas Field Day scheduled for August 12 ----------------------- Additional Links ----------------------- Texas A&M AgriLIFE Research Center: The latest Texas Rice Crop Survey reports are available through the Beaumont Center web-site: http://beaumont.tamu.edu/CropSurvey/CropSurveyReport.aspx University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service: Arkansas Rice (07/15): http://www.usriceproducers.com/files/259_2010.07.15_Arkansas_Rice.pdf University of Arkansas Rice Research and Extension Center News Summer 2010 is available Online: Rice Research News (V2 N4) http://aaes.uark.edu/pdf_files/RREC_News-Summer2010.pdf RiceFax: Midsouth/Texas; 07/14 Coastal Harvest Nears, Diseas and late insects build (Full Report) http://agfax.com/ricefax/reports/10/reports/0715.htm ----------------------- Upcoming Events ----------------------- July 27 - 29, 2010 The 3rd Africa Rice Outlook, Cape Town, South Africa July 28, 2010 Export Letter of Credit Documentation Training, Houston, TX August 5, 2010 Horizon Ag Field Day, Ruleville, MS August 11, 2010 Arkansas Rice Research & Extension Field Day, Stuttgart, AR August 12, 2010 RiceTec Field Day, RiceTec Station, Harrisburg, AR August 18, 2010 Cache River Valley Seed Company Field Day, Cash, AR August 26, 2010 Missouri Rice Council Field Day, Glennoville, MO September 21 - 24,2010 Rice Challenges in the 21st Century, Cali, Colombia October 12 - 14, 2010 TRT World Rice Conference, Phuket, Thailand February 1 - 2, 2011 14th Annual NCSCRC “Tillage Conf.”; Baton Rouge, LA For more information visit USRPA’s online calendar at: www.usriceproducers.com/calendar ----------------------- USDA Reports Next Week ----------------------- Crop Progress (NASS) Monday, July 26, 4:00 pm Weather Crop-Summary (NASS) Tuesday, July 27, 12:00 pm U.S. Export Sales (FAS) Thursday, July 29, 8:30 am All USDA reports are available by visiting http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/?navid=AGENCY_REPORTS=RT. The US Rice Producers Association 2825 Wilcrest Dr., Ste. 505 Houston, TX 77042 P. (713) 974-7423 F. (713) 974-7696 E. rice_advocate@usriceproducers.com