Rice Climbs for Fourth Day After Cyclone Hits Myanmar

[marmar]

from Bloomberg:



Rice Climbs for Fourth Day After Cyclone Hits Myanmar (Update2)

By Jae Hur and Rattaphol Onsanit

May 7 (Bloomberg) -- Rice surged for a fourth day on speculation that Myanmar may be transformed from a net exporter to a buyer on the international market after last weekend's cyclone damaged crops and left as many as 60,000 people dead and missing.

Rice for July delivery rose as much as 50 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $21.60 per 100 pounds on the Chicago Board of Trade. Weekly prices from Thailand, the world's biggest exporter, are set to be released later today by the country's main exporters group.

The staple food for half the world's population has almost doubled over the past year, reaching a record $25.07 last month after China, Vietnam and India curbed shipments and demand rose. Soaring prices are stoking social unrest, poverty and hunger.

``The cyclone damage in Myanmar will further tighten rice supplies, especially in Asia,'' Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst at Tokyo-based commodity broker Okachi & Co., said by phone today. ``This may drive importers to rush for supplies as the cyclone has made the rice exporter rely on food aid.''

Before the storm, the Food and Agriculture Organization had estimated that Myanmar may have exported 600,000 metric tons of rice this year, with shipments set for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. That compares with estimated global exports this year of 29.9 million tons, according the Rome-based United Nations agency.

The most-active Chicago contract, which traded limit-up at $21.60 per 100 pounds at 11:27 a.m. Singapore time, has gained as much as 4.7 percent in the past four days. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afnNfcJfhFL8&refer=home

[Hannah Bell]

1. still below its highs.

[Supersedeas]

2. speculators making $$ on world tragedy

[babydollhead]

3. do you think that the rice news

was a primer of the rice loss due to weather? do you think they were supposed to have the rice shortage after the storm? Was it Jeb that called the state of emergency accidently on sept. 10th?