Crops

• INDICATIONS POINT TO a reduction in global cereal output in 2009.

• THE 2009 PADDY season is well advanced in the southern hemisphere rice producing areas, with the harvest due to commence from March- April. Indonesia, by far the largest producer of these countries, is on the brink of achieving self-sufficiency in rice in 2009 if the targeted 63mn tonnes of crop materialises.

• LARGE WINTER WHEAT plantings are estimated in some Asian countries, especially where government support measures have been introduced to maintain/boost production such as in China, India and Pakistan. However, the benefits from these increases look likely to be minimal, if any, as the main wheat growing areas of China are suffering from severe drought and precipitation has also been somewhat scarce in India.

• GLOBAL CEREAL PRODUCTION in 2008 is estimated at a record 2,272mn tonnes (including rice in milled terms), 6.6 per cent up from the previous year. While in developed countries the 2008 cereal output is estimated 12.3 per cent higher than in the previous year, in developing countries the expansion was just 2.3 per cent. This mainly reflects a weak supply response in Asia, accounting for three-quarters of the developing countries’ production, where the aggregate cereal output remained virtually unchanged. Although some moderate growth was recorded in the main producing countries in the Far East, taking production there to new record levels, this was offset by reductions in the Near East.

• THE 2009 PADDY season is well advanced in the southern hemisphere rice producing areas, with the harvest due to commence from March- April. Indonesia, by far the largest producer of these countries, is on the brink of achieving self-sufficiency in rice in 2009 if the targeted 63mn tonnes of crop materialises.

• LARGE WINTER WHEAT plantings are estimated in some Asian countries, especially where government support measures have been introduced to maintain/boost production such as in China, India and Pakistan. However, the benefits from these increases look likely to be minimal, if any, as the main wheat growing areas of China are suffering from severe drought and precipitation has also been somewhat scarce in India.

• GLOBAL CEREAL PRODUCTION in 2008 is estimated at a record 2,272mn tonnes (including rice in milled terms), 6.6 per cent up from the previous year. While in developed countries the 2008 cereal output is estimated 12.3 per cent higher than in the previous year, in developing countries the expansion was just 2.3 per cent. This mainly reflects a weak supply response in Asia, accounting for three-quarters of the developing countries’ production, where the aggregate cereal output remained virtually unchanged. Although some moderate growth was recorded in the main producing countries in the Far East, taking production there to new record levels, this was offset by reductions in the Near East.

Cambodia has plans to become a major rice exporter but the country is facing legal and regulatory hurdles to commercial production. (Image source: Sistak/Flickr)

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved loans worth US$55mn to help strengthen the Cambodian rice sector

China has made the largest wheat purchase from the US in three months buying 360,000 tonnes of US soft red winter wheat for shipment in the 2013/14 marketing year

Rice imports are unavoidable for Indonesia this year because of the lower than expected unhusked rice production in 2013. (Image source: sxc.hu)

The Indonesian Bureau of Logistics (Bulog) has revealed plans to import at least 600,000 tonnes of rice later this year due to low production caused by weather anomalies and poor irrigation systems