·         The FAO All Rice Price Index (2002-2004=100) averaged 228.7 points in February 2018, up 3.6 points (1.6 percent) from its January value. Aromatic prices posted the largest monthly increase (+3.7 percent) in February, sustained by Iranian purchases and tight fragrant availabilities in Thailand. Lower quality Indica and Japonica quotations also strengthened, while subsiding demand tended to steady prices of higher quality Indica rice.

• Asian quotations followed mixed trends during February, despite generally quiet trading activities owing to festivities and a relapse in demand. Indica prices were steady to weaker in Thailand and Pakistan due to a lack of substantial fresh deals. Uncertainty over importing plans in the Philippines added to the downward pressure, as did news of Bangladesh cancelling a previous order of Thai parboiled rice and of a forgone sale of Pakistani supplies to Indonesia. By contrast, Indica prices advanced in Viet Nam, underpinned by thinning availabilities ahead of the 2018 winter/spring harvest, and in India owing to state purchases and African demand. In the Americas, quotations remained stable in Uruguay, while tight availabilities lifted long-grain prices in the United States to their highest level since November 2014. Instead, values tended to ease in Argentina in response to currency movements, and in Brazil, notwithstanding the launch of state auctions geared at sustaining paddy prices.

·         According to the FAO All Rice Price Index, international rice prices in the first two months of 2018 were 18 percent above year-earlier levels, mirroring gains in all the major rice market segments.

 

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