Global milled rice trade jumped 10% in 2014

The volume of milled rice traded globally rose by 10 percent to a record 43.2 million tons in 2014, partly due to the Philippines’ increased importation of the staple.

At the same time, illegal trading of rice continued to thrive as the National Food Authority Wednesday said it had seized 5,000 bags of allegedly smuggled rice worth about P15 million.

Based on the United States Department of Agriculture’s monitoring, the latest figure on global trade was 300,000 tons more than the previous estimate.

“The record trade level of 2014 was largely due to expanded shipments from India and Thailand more than offsetting reduced shipments from Pakistan, Vietnam, and the United States,” the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) said on it latest Rice Outlook report.

“On the import side, big increases in purchases by Bangladesh, China, the European Union, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Turkey more than offset weaker purchases by Brazil, Iran, Iraq, South Korea, and Thailand,” the ERS added.

For 2015, the US agency revised its forecast global trade volume at 400,000 tons to 42.6 million tons.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Philippines is expected to import 1.8 million tons of milled rice in 2015, the same amount that was shipped in 2014.

On Wednesday, the NFA said it had confiscated about 250,000 kilos of rice stored in a Manila warehouse.

Francis Pangilinan, presidential adviser on food security and agricultural modernization, said in a statement that the concerned trader and warehouse owner would face sanctions since the warehouse was not licensed by the NFA.

Citing the National Bureau of Investigation, Pangilinan said the rice was imported from Thailand and brought into the country through Zamboanga before being taken to Manila.

He added that the bags containing the rice lacked proper markings. These were labeled regular or well milled rice, but contained glutinous fancy rice instead.