Brief commentary of the month:

The FAO All Rice Price Index (2002-2004=100) averaged 230.4 points in May 2018, barely changed (+0.4 percent) from a revised estimate of 229.4 points for April 2018. The Lower and Higher Quality Indica Indices edged up by 3 points each during May, following fresh purchases by Southeast Asian buyers. Conversely, lackluster demand for basmati rice caused the Aromatic Index to lose ground for the third successive month, while Japonica prices held steady in May.

May quotations of Indica white rice strengthened across much of Asia, except in India and Thailand, where currency depreciations tended to cap increases. The price gains were spurred by the launch of two tenders by the Philippines’ National Food Authority, along with renewed demand from Malaysia, at a time when various suppliers were busy concluding previous orders from Indonesia. The undertone was weaker in the parboiled segment, where in the absence of substantial deals with African buyers, currency movements lowered Indian and Thai parboiled values. In the Americas, with fresh crop arrivals still a few months away, increasingly tighter availabilities continued to lend support to long-grain prices in the United States. Sales to Iraq also underpinned quotations in Uruguay, while steadying those of Argentina, notwithstanding the weakness of the Argentinian Peso. Instead, May quotations of white rice took a downturn in Brazil, as exchange rate movements eclipsed gains in local paddy prices sustained by production shortfalls and firm demand.

 According to the FAO All Rice Price Index, international prices in the first five months of 2018 were 16.3 percent above their levels in the corresponding period of 2017.