We are pleased to send you the new issue of the FAO Rice Price Update. 

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·         The FAO All Rice Price Index (2002-04=100) averaged 221.7 points in March 2019, up 0.5 percent from a revised value of 220.6 points in February 2019. Prices of lower quality Indica and Japonica rice drove the Index increase, rising by around 1 percent each owing to currency movements or busy shipping schedules. The higher quality Indica and Aromatic indices held broadly steady during March.

·         The bearish undertone gripping Asian Indica markets in February abated last month, although the absence of substantial orders from buyers such as Bangladesh, China and Indonesia kept Asian March quotations in check, or even lowered them as was the case in Thailand. In India, a Rupee appreciation lifted March prices of Indica white rice to their highest levels since August 2018. Uncertainties regarding the renewal of the 5 percent duty credit scrip for Indian non-basmati exports beyond its 25 March expiration added to the firmness. State efforts encouraging greater local purchases of freshly harvested winter-spring rice also underpinned a partial recovery in Vietnamese offers, whereas sales to China and regular East African outlets lent support to Pakistani prices. Sentiment was less firm in the Americas. Long-grain quotations changed little in the United States, while values weakened in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay on a combination of harvest pressure, currency depreciations and limited demand.