World food prices at their highest in two years

Cached:  http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/55863/world-food-prices-at-their-highest-in-two-years

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation says world food prices have risen to their highest level in two years.

It says the increase is due partly to a drought in Russia and to Russian government export restrictions that have brought about a surge in the price of wheat.

The Rome-based agency says its food price index shot up 5% between July and August, although it’s still 38% down from its peak in June 2008.

FAO has reduced its forecast for global production of food staples in 2010, the BBC reports. It now thinks that cereal production will be 1.8% lower than its June forecast and that wheat production will be 5% lower than in 2009.

Notwithstanding those falls, it says, world cereal and wheat production levels will still be the third highest on record.

Rice production is also expected to be lower. Much of the revision is due to floods in Pakistan and lower expectations in China, Egypt, India, Laos and the Philippines.

Copyright © 2010, Radio New Zealand

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Global cereal consumption to surpass output this season: FAO

Cached:  http://www.business-standard.com/commodities/storypage.php?autono=406611

Dilip Kumar Jha / Mumbai Sep 02, 2010, 00:41

Global cereal consumption is set to surpass production for the first time in three years due to the impact of the periodic climatic behaviour known as El Nino, which brought floods in one part of the world and drought on another.

Data compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations show world cereal output will be about 10 million tonnes less than consumption. FAO today revised its own forecast downwards, with production revised to 2,238 million tonnes from the 2,280 mt figure set in June. Consumption estimate has also been brought down to 2,248 mt from 2,268 mt earlier.

Even at this lower level, world cereal output in 2010 will be the third highest on record and above the five-year average. This will result in a two per cent contraction in ending stocks from their eight-year-high opening levels, still well above the alarmingly low level witnessed in the 2007-08 food crisis. The deficit is set to be met through carryover stock, also estimated to fall to 527 mt in 2010-11 from 540 mt in the previous year.

Adverse weather in Brazil, Russia and Pakistan cut major cereal output. This year’s wheat crop is put at 646 mt, down five per cent from 2009 but still the third highest ever. The latest revision reflects a further cut in the estimate of this year’s harvest in the Russian Federation to 43 mt (from 48 mt in the previous estimate), more than offsetting higher forecasts for crops in a number of other countries, including the US and China.

The world forecast for wheat ending stock in 2011 was also lowered, to 181 mt, down nine per cent from their eight-year-high opening level.

“The whole world is closely monitoring developments in Russia and Brazil, for supplying foodgrains to them at a premium. Pakistan is reeling under its worst-ever flood this year, opening an opportunity for foodgrain-surplus countries to share the pie in supply. India must open exports of foodgrains to cash in on the opportunity,” said V K Chaturvedi, managing director of Usher Agro, an agro processing company based in Mumbai.

The forecast for global rice production in 2010 was also revised downward and is now 467 mt, five mt lower than the June forecast but still three per cent more than in 2009 and a historical record. Much of the revision was the consequence of Pakistan’s floods but also stemmed from lower expectations in China, Egypt, India, Laos and the Philippines.

In India, rice output is estimated to surpass the 99 mt of last year, despite drought in the northeastern states. The monsoon has since revived in these regions and planting of late-sown paddy resumed. A favourable monsoon will also pave a positive way for the wheat crop in the coming rabi season, provided soil moisture stays from late monsoon rainfall.

DIRE FORECAST
Particulars	‘07-08	‘08-09	‘09-10 (E)	Jun ‘10 (F)	Sep ‘10 (F)
Production	2132	2285	2257	2280	2238
Utilisation	2138	2183	2234	2268	2248
Ending stocks	427	517	540	533	527
Source: FAO, E= Estimate, F= Forecast

World production of coarse grains was forecast to reach 1,125 mt, down six mt from the previous forecast in June but up marginally from 2009 and the second highest on record. Maize production was heading towards an all-time high of 845 mt, with expectation of record crops in China and the US. But world barley production was forecast to fall by 22 per cent to a 30-year low of only 129 mt in 2010, driven mostly by a sharp cut in production in the CIS and in the EU as a result of poor weather.

Activities mark National Day abroad

Cached:  http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/news/010910/domestic_ac.htm

The Lao Defence Ministry has held a meeting to mark the 65th anniversary of National Day of Vietnam (September 2) in Vientiane.

Addressing the function on August 30, Deputy Defence Minister Lieutenant General Sengnuon Saynhalat and Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Ta Minh Chau reviewed the development of the Vietnamese revolution over the past 65 years and highlighted the country’s achievements.

The Deputy Minister stressed Vietnam’s achievements have been a source of encouragement to the entire Party, army and people of Laos in their national defence and construction.

Ambassador Chau affirmed that the Party and people of Vietnam will spare no effort to keep and strengthen their special solidarity, traditional friendship and comprehensive co-operation with the Party, State and people of Laos, lifting the ties to a new height and meeting aspiration and benefit of people in each country.

Also on this occasion, Vietnamese living in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and other provinces of Thailand met at the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand on August 29.

Chairman of the Thai-Vietnam Cultural Association Professor Lae Dilokvidhyarat said the celebration of Vietnam’s major holidays will help the overseas Vietnamese remember their homeland. He acknowledged the Vietnamese community’s contributions to Thailand’s socio-economic development, particularly in the Northeastern region, and enrichment of ASEAN cultures.

In Russia, the Vietnamese Embassy and the students association in Russia on August 29 presented certificates of merit and awards to 125 excellent students who were born to the Vietnamese families in Russia.

Ambassador Bui Dinh Dinh said the award was made in recognition of the oversea Vietnamese students’ achievements in their study, stressing the country’s future depends on the young generation, including those in Russia. (VNA)

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Vietnamese Cultural Centre in Laos honoure

Cached:  http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/culture/010910/culture_vna.htm

The Vietnamese Cultural Centre (VCC) in Laos was awarded the Vietnamese and Lao third-class Labour Orders to mark the 15th anniversary of its founding, on August 31.

Celebrating the anniversary on August 30, the Director of the VCC, Pham Hong Toan, said that the centre had successfully fulfilled the tasks assigned to it by the Party and the State over the past 15 years.

The centre has worked with agencies from both countries to screen films and hold exhibitions on Vietnam’s national holidays, organise painting and writing contests about Uncle Ho for Lao children, and established cultural clubs in the community, he added.

It has also worked with Vietnamese agencies to organise Vietnamese Cultural Week in Laos and hold science workshops for Lao students.

The centre has also successfully brought together Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its Laotian counterpart as well as central and local agencies from both countries, he added.

The Lao Minister of Culture and Information, Munkeo Orabun, highlighted the centre’s activities and said that he hoped the centre would foster friendship, solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two peoples.(VNA)