Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Rice gained for a sixth day in Chicago on speculation that adverse weather may curb production in the U.S., the world’s third-biggest exporter of the grain, and the Philippines, the largest importer.
No rain has fallen in parts of Arkansas, the biggest U.S. rice producer, in the past 60 days, National Weather Service data show. Plants in the Philippines may have been “severely affected” by Typhoon Megi, the strongest to hit the country this year, the Department of Agriculture said today.
“The big story in rice is the extremely poor field yields in” U.S. growing regions, said Dennis DeLaughter, owner of Progressive Farm Marketing and a rice grower based in Edna, Texas. “We are now hearing 20 percent loss and going up.”
Rice futures for January delivery advanced 9 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $14.07 per hundred pounds at 11:21 a.m. London time on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices have climbed 12 percent this month. A higher close today would mark the contract’s longest winning streak in more than two months.
The Philippines may lose 600,000 metric tons from its rice crop, Agriculture Undersecretary Antonio Fleta said yesterday. Potential crop losses may boost the island archipelago’s import needs by 500,000 tons, pushing prices higher in Chicago and Thailand, Chookiat Ophaswongse, former president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said yesterday.
Thai rice prices may rise by as much as $20 a metric ton, Chookiat said.
Crop losses may widen in areas affected by the typhoon, potentially increasing import needs and pushing global prices higher, said Kiattisak Kanlayasirivat, a director at Novel Commodities SA’s Thai office, which trades about $600 million worth of rice every year.
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