Uruguayan farmers are planning to sow 1.105.000 hectares of crops this coming 2012/13 summer season, which is similar to last year’s of which 890.000 hectares or 80% will be dedicated to soybeans.
The United Nations’ food agency cut its 2012 global rice production forecast but said supply would still outstrip demand and that there was no increased risk of a food crisis as long as countries do not resort to export bans.
Uruguay’s area to be planted with rice in the coming 2012/13 season is estimated at 179.000 hectares, slightly down from the 181.400 of this year, according to the country’s Department of Agriculture Statistics (DIEA) and based on a poll following the 2011/12 harvest.
Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer Cosan and the country's largest rice producer, Camil Alimentos, reached an agreement to merge their food divisions, Cosan said in a statement this week.
Uruguay will consult with Iran the possibility of exporting rice in exchange for oil, the government of President Jose Mujica said on Friday.
The 2012 Brazilian grains and oilseed is expected to be below the 2011 record because of the intense drought in the months of December and January, particularly to the south of the country where soybeans and rice suffered most reported the Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE.
Cuba plans to enlarge to 40,000 hectares a Vietnamese-aided test farm to expand production of rice, official media said on Monday.
Brazil has begun shipping rice to South Africa, competing with Thailand, the largest source of the grain for Africa’s largest economy. A shipment of rice from Brazil’s Santa Catarina state left Santos bound for South Africa this week.
Cuba is forced to import more than 400,000 tons of rice each year, 60% of the total amount of this dietary staple consumed on the island, according to official figures published Sunday by the daily Juventud Rebelde.
Global rice production is expected to touch 476 million tons in 2011, on the back of improved weather conditions, as the influence of La Niña is expected to neutralize by June, United Nation’s body FAO said.