Brief commentary of the month:

The FAO All Rice Price Index (2002-2004=100) averaged 231.6 points in June 2018, up 1.5 percent from its May value. Last month’s Index advance was driven by a 5.2 percent increase in the Japonica Index, although stronger fragrant quotations in Thailand also raised the value of the Aromatica Index by 0.5 percent month-on-month. Indica prices subsided by around 1.4 percent during June.

Price increases were most evident in the United States’ Japonica market and in Thailand’s fragrant segment during June. US medium-grain quotations staged a 9.6 percent monthly jump to hit USD 990 per tonne, their highest level since November 2014. In Thailand, a 5 percent monthly rise placed June values of Hom Mali rice at an all-time high of USD 1 246 per tonne. In both cases, the upsurge was attributable to increasingly tighter export availabilities following production shortfalls incurred in 2017. This is even if little buying interest was reported for these qualities during the month. Among Indica suppliers, gains were also registered in Brazil, where quotations rebounded to 5-month highs, fueled by a smaller 2018 harvest, a fast pace of exports and higher freight costs. Instead, prices tended to ease in Pakistan, Thailand and Viet Nam, following a slowdown in trading activities and, in the former two, currency depreciations. In Indian and Thai parboiled markets, additional downward pressure on quotations stemmed from prospects of fewer sales to Bangladesh, following the reinstatement of higher import duties by the Bangladeshi Government early in the month.

According to the FAO All Rice Price Index, international prices in the first half of 2018 were 15.2 percent above their levels in the corresponding period of 2017.