Rice Goes to the Bottom
Angstrem Trading submitted an inquiry to Russia’s agriculture inspection agency, Rosselkhoznadzor, in an effort to learn whether its ban extends to the rice cereals that are being shipped to Russia by sea. The importers have 17,000 tons to 20,000 tons of rice worth $7 million drifting in the sea now, the market players say, while the analysts forecast the prices to go up starting from the end of this week.
In the letter submitted to Rosselkhoznadzor, Angstrem asks this agriculture supervising authority of Russia whether its ban extends to the rice that had reached the port of St. Petersburg by December 4 and the rice that had been loaded from the country of origin by that date.
That rice is received from one and the same factory in Thailand and it has successfully passed all quality checks so far, Angstrem specified. The company was promised to be given an answer by Friday.
About 17,000 tons to 20,000 tons of rice (the consumption of imported rice of three to four weeks) are in the sea now, said Prodgamma General Director Alexander Khamidulin. Of this amount, 5,800 tons belong to Prodramma, Angstrem has 5,000 tons and Agroalliance accounts for 8,000 tons to 9,000 tons. If Rosselkhoznadzor doesn’t make concessions at least in respect of the loaded consignments, the importers will lose roughly $7 million, the analysts forecast.
A few days ago, Rosselkhoznadzor imposed a complete ban on the import of rice to Russia, citing quality concerns about imported cereals. Given that more than a half of the rice consumed in Russia is imported, the market players expect the prices to rise by 100 percent in the near term.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 06, 2006
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