USDA’s reported world market price values have remained unchanged over the past week, with the on-farm WMP value of long grain rough reported at $9.17/hundredweight and the medium/short grain rough values at $9.42/hundredweight.
This Week
With the harvest moving toward finality, the rice industry remains in the quiet times it has experienced in the past weeks. Export sales showed a promising boost this week and although the vessel loadings were diminished, it is not alarming at this point. Asian prices were sideways over the week, which is somewhat different than the slowly downward trend they have been showing of late.
USDA has held the world market price constant over the week, and the domestic pricing has firmed at current levels. The futures market made early gains in the week but was unable to stay in positive territory through the end of the week. All told, the market is still in a healthy state and an increasing number of factors seem to indicate it staying that way.
The futures market saw the nearby November contract open at $13.27/hundredweight on Monday and then surge through the market close to top out at $13.34/hundredweight by the end of the day. Tuesday’s action saw the contract post minor losses, a trend that continued through Wednesday, before the market surged on Thursday back into the $13.30/hundredweight range.
Friday’s close saw the nearby November ’15 contract slip to $13.25/hundredweight posting minor losses for the week. Weekly net changes were mixed, ranging from -0.22% to 0.68% across the open contracts on the board. The market ended the week with an average daily volume of 1,067.6 contracts and open interest of 11,713 as of Thursday’s trading.
The domestic rice market has settled somewhat over the week with firming prices and growers looking forward to finishing the harvest in some areas.
Texas has seen a very quiet week with some limited trading and second crop continuing to develop. Second crop conditions are for the moment looking very positive and will hopefully go a long ways toward balancing out the disparaging first crop yields. New crop bids have stabilized over the week with current pricing being reported at $6.25-$6.50/hundredweight premiums over loan for hybrid and conventional varieties respectively.
It has also been a quiet week in Louisiana, with the big news being the arrival and loading of the ship at the Lake Charles facility for export. Second crop looks to be positive in the state as well, and with the advent of the successful export business in the southwest part of the state, will see competitive marketing as the crop is brought in. Current pricing levels for new crop are holding at $12.34/hundredweight.
The harvest in Mississippi is progressing rapidly with over 70% of the rice out of the field at this point. Yield projections from the state continue to report being 10%-15% off, which is no surprise given the yields that have been coming in from both Texas and Louisiana. With as much as 25% of new crop committed at this point, pricing is said to be $12.22/hundredweight delivered to a loading facility.
Southern Arkansas is seeing harvest ease to conclusion with an estimated 70% complete in the southern part of the state. Overall, Arkansas is reported as being 45% complete. Field yields are estimated to be off between 10%-15% although quality is projected to be average to good. Pricing for new crop is around $0.80 per hundredweight under the November contract for December delivery.
Missouri is seeing a harvest in full swing as well, with yields being reported across the board. Quality is still unknown, but more solid information can be expected in the coming weeks. Pricing for new crop remains at the $12.00/hundredweight level, delivered to the river in January/February/March.
Exports
Export sales for the week showed another increase, with a posted 19 percent rise over the previous report. Weekly totals were reported as being 70,500 MT. Increases to Japan (24,100 MT), Mexico (23,200 MT), Haiti (11,500 MT), unknown destinations (5,900 MT), and Canada (2,100 MT) were partially offset by decreases for Taiwan (400 MT). Sales were comprised of long grain rice with the exception of the Japanese and Taiwanese purchases which were comprised of medium/short grain.
Conversely, vessel loadings were off by 55 percent from last week’s volume at a reported 42,200 MT. Primary destinations were Haiti (15,200 MT), Japan (12,000 MT), Mexico (3,100 MT), South Korea (2,900 MT), and Canada (2,400 MT). Loadings were composed of long grain except for the Japanese and Korean shipments which were comprised of medium/short grain.
Asia
Asian prices this week have been mixed to slightly upward, reversing the general trend of the past several reports. Price increases were noted for Thai 100%B ($358/MT), Thai 100% parboiled ($348/MT), and Vietnamese 5% ($335/MT). Price decreases were noted for Myanmar 5% ($417/MT), Myanmar 5% parboiled ($455/MT), and Pakistani 5% ($312/MT) as compared to last week’s values. All prices are quoted in US Dollars and are f.o.b. vessel.
