Top rice supplier India bans some exports

MUMBAI, India - The world's biggest rice exporter India has banned some overseas sales of the grain "with immediate effect", the government said, in a move that could drive international prices even higher.

Rice is a major world food staple and prices on international markets have soared to decade highs as the world grappled with the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon on production levels.

India would ban exports of non-basmati white rice -- which accounts for around a quarter of its total -- the consumer affairs and food ministry said.

The move would "ensure adequate availability" and "allay the rise in prices in the domestic market", it said in a statement late Thursday.

India accounts for more than 40 percent of all global rice shipments, so the decision could "risk exacerbating food insecurity in countries highly dependent on rice imports", data analytics firm Gro Intelligence said in a note.

Countries expected to be hit by the ban include African nations, Turkey, Syria, and Pakistan -- all of them already struggling with high food-price inflation -- the firm added.

Global demand saw Indian exports of non-basmati white rice jump 35 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, the ministry said.

The increase came even after the government banned broken rice shipments and imposed a 20 percent export tax on white rice in September.

India exported 10.3 million tons of non-basmati white rice last year and Rabobank senior analyst Oscar Tjakra said alternative suppliers did not have spare capacity to fill the gap.

"Typically the major exporters are Thailand, Vietnam, and to some extent Pakistan and the US," he told AFP. "They won't have enough supply of rice to replace these."

Moscow's cancellation of the Black Sea grain deal that protected Ukrainian exports has already led to wheat prices creeping up, he pointed out.

"Obviously this will add into inflation around the world because rice can be used as a substitute for wheat."

Rice prices in India rose 14-15 percent in the year to March and the government "clearly viewed these as red lines from a domestic food security and inflation point of view", ratings agency Crisil's research director Pushan Sharma said in a note.

India had already curbed exports of wheat and sugar last year to rein in prices.

Agence France-Presse

World faces food crisis in wake of coronavirus: UN, WTO

PARIS - The heads of three global agencies warned Wednesday of the risk of a worldwide "food shortage" if authorities fail to manage the ongoing coronavirus crisis properly.

Many governments around the world have put their populations on lockdown causing severe slow-downs in international trade and food supply chains.

Panic buying by people going into confinement has already demonstrated the fragility of supply chains as supermarket shelves emptied in many countries.

"Uncertainty about food availability can spark a wave of export restrictions, creating a shortage on the global market," said the joint text signed by Qu Dongyu, head of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Roberto Azevedo, director of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"In the midst of the COVID-19 lockdowns, every effort must be made to ensure that trade flows as freely as possible, especially to avoid food shortage(s)" from developing, they said in their statement.

"When acting to protect the health and well-being of their citizens, countries should ensure that any trade-related measures do not disrupt the food supply chain," they added.

Over the longer-term confinement orders and travel restrictions risk causing disruptions in agricultural production due to the unavailability of agricultural labor and the inability to get food to markets.

"Such disruptions including hampering the movement of agricultural and food industry workers and extending border delays for food containers, result in the spoilage of perishables and increasing food waste," said the three leaders.

They also stressed the need to protect employees engaged in food production, processing and distribution, both for their own health and that of others, as well as to maintain food supply chains.

"It is at times like these that more, not less, international cooperation is essential," they said.

"We must ensure that our response to COVID-19 does not unintentionally create unwarranted shortages of essential items and exacerbate hunger and malnutrition."

Agence France-Presse

Rice for quarantined communities

City workers on Tuesday pack rice in bags for distribution to quarantined communities in Marikina City amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Agriculture on the same day proposed the importation of some 300,000 metric tons of rice to ensure food security in the country during the crisis. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Investors back global online market-place for ethical, green farmers

KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A former investment banker has raised more than $10 million to expand a startup that helps developing-nation farmers who are using green and ethical methods to earn more by linking them directly with food buyers around the world.

After a decade of investing in commodity markets at Deutsche Bank and Korea Investment Corporation, Hoshik Shin set up an online marketplace Tridge in 2015 to build a network of sustainable producers and link them to buyers at home and abroad.

Food sold on Tridge includes peppermint leaves from Egypt, peanuts farmed in Nigeria and mangoes grown in India and Thailand.

"At the moment, suppliers in emerging countries are so restricted to just meeting local buyers," said the South Korean entrepreneur, whose venture secured $10.5 million this month from investors to bolster the business.

"Through our platform, they can meet foreign buyers more easily ... prices will improve and that gives bigger benefits to both farmers and their employees," the 42-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Tridge users include the world's largest retailer Walmart Inc and French supermarket chain Carrefour, said Shin.

Globally, consumers and retailers are demanding more information about the goods they source, buy and eat, to make sure their production and transportation do not damage the environment or use illegal and unethical business practices.

In response, manufacturers of household brands, restaurants and other businesses are seeking to attract more customers by offering products guaranteed free of deforestation or slave labor, for example.

Earlier this year, conservation group WWF launched a website that harnesses blockchain technology allowing users to scan a QR code on a product or menu revealing its full history and supply chain.

Seoul-based Tridge makes use of artificial intelligence, data and algorithms, and has about 80 employees in 40 countries verifying that suppliers are trustworthy and ethical.

Food sellers on the platform, who are based in about 150 countries, can cut out middlemen and traders along the supply chain, who often take a cut and push up prices.

"The buyers get cheaper sourcing, and the supplier can get a better selling price," said Shin.

Once linked, producers and their customers - which include large and small retailers, importers, manufacturers and caterers - can conduct business away from the website, with suppliers paying Tridge for the connection.

The online platform, whose main rival is China's Alibaba Group, has more than 1,000 food products, 60,000 suppliers and 40,000 buyers.

Last year, purchase requests totaled about $2 billion, Shin said, with a target of $10 billion for 2020.

"We figured that food and agriculture is the most fragmented industry," he said, noting the system can match sellers to buyers' specifications "within one second".

David Dawe, a senior economist at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Bangkok, said ethical and sustainable food supply chains often incur extra costs, making it hard for them to be competitive.

"Use of new digital technologies can counteract those additional costs, helping such businesses to survive and grow their market share," he added. (Reporting by Michael Taylor @MickSTaylor; Editing by Megan Rowling. Thomson Reuters Foundation)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Noche Buena price watch: 'Premium' may rise, cheaper brands steady

MANILA — The retail price of some premium Christmas food items like ham will likely increase, as higher manufacturing costs offset lower pork prices due to the African swine fever outbreak, the trade department said.

Manufacturing costs rose 30 to 60 percent, which could push the prices of premium fare for Noche Buena by 2 to 9 percent. Some traders also imported meat requirements for Christmas hams, said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

Prices of cheaper products did not move, Lopez told DZMM.

"Takot din silang maipasa ang presyo kasi walang bibili e saka baka lumipat sa ibang brands," he added.

(They're also afraid to increase prices because consumers might not buy or patronize other brands.)

The DTI is inspecting markets daily to ensure that chicken prices do not exceed P180 per kilo as consumers switch to poultry from pork.

African swine fever does not affect humans despite causing hemorrhagic fever in pigs that almost always ends in death. An outbreak of the virus in parts of Rizal and Bulacan provinces has prompted authorities to cull around 7,000 hogs.

Pork accounts for 60 percent of meat consumption in the Philippines, the world's 8th biggest pork producer by volume, with its swine industry estimated at P260 billion, the Department of Agriculture earlier said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Ants, crickets and cockroaches: healthy snacks that taste like potato chips

SARCHI - At his home in rural ​Costa Rica, biologist Federico Paniagua joined his family at the dining table to devour several types of insects that he raised on his farm and whose flavor he compares to potato chips.

The head of the University of Costa Rica's Insects Museum decided three years ago to replace animal protein in his diet with crickets, ants, cockroaches, beetles and other insects - and wants to encourage others to do the same.

"Insects are delicious," he said in an interview at his farm in Sarchi, about 30 miles (50 km) from the capital San Jose.

"You can sit and watch a soap opera, watch the football game, do any activity with a plate full of insects. Eat them one by one, with a glass of soda... they'll go down well," said Paniagua.

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has counted more than 1,900 insect species that are edible.

Especially in Asia and in Africa, the tiny creatures are touted as delicacies packed with vitamins, minerals and energy.

Their proponents also note that bugs emit fewer greenhouse gases and less ammonia than cattle or pigs and require significantly less land and water than cattle.

Paniagua's wife, Gabriela Soto, prepared their meal by splashing oil in a frying pan, adding the farm-raised insects and topping them off with a dash of salt.

She then brought out several dishes to her young daughter, who reached into a plate with her hands and munched fearlessly, and husband, who suggested a bit of lemon would enhance their flavor.

"They are going to taste like potato chips... you can eat basically a whole plate of these insects," Paniagua said. (Reporting by Hector Guzman; writing by Ana Isabel Martinez and Daina Beth Solomon; editing by Christian Schmollinger)

source: news.abs-cbn.com