Indonesia

Indonesian Govt Continues Importing Rice For Price Stability

September 12, 2011 (Vietnamica) – According to State logistics agency Bulog, Indonesia will continue importing rice until the end of the year to maintain supplies during the dry season (January to February), a move meant to ease the pressure on rice prices. The agency would receive 200,000 tons of rice from Vietnam in September and another 300,000 tons of rice would be ready for delivery from Thailand in October.  

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Managing Future Food Crises Through Better Price Data and Policies

September 7, 2011 (By Prabhu Pingali and Peter Timmer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) – The recent release of the Food Price Watch report by the World Bank serves as a stark reminder that continuing high and volatile food prices are putting the poorest in the developing world at risk. After peaking in early 2008, prices for wheat, rice and maize fell sharply, only to have wheat and maize prices rebound to new heights in 2011. Although both the price spikes and the volatility have historical precedents, the recent ups and downs have the most tragic consequences for people...

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China’s Low-Wage Export Engine Starts to Sputter

Sept 6, 2011 (Wall Street Journal) — UBS Economist Jonathan Anderson, a sharp analyst of the Chinese economy, believes he’s uncovered a “pretty convincing turning point” in China’s development model. For decades, Beijing has relied on super-low wages to win a bigger slice of global exports and help turn a poor country into the world’s second largest economy.

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Vietnam’s Rice Exports Declined as Local Prices Surged in August

September 4, 2011 (Vietnamica) – Vietnam Food Association (VFA) unveiled that the nation missed rice exports target of 700,000 tons in August because of surging local rice prices. Last month, Vietnam exported 435,587 tons of rice while export prices reached US$560 per ton, US$25-30 per ton higher than Thai rice.

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