2nd july (thursday), 2015 daily global rice e newsletter by riceplus magazine

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July 2 ,2015

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BUHARI URGED TO SUPPORT RICE PRODUCTION Published on Thursday, 02 July 2015 04:00

Written by Misbahu Bashir, Kaduna

President Muhammdu Buhari has been urged to make favourable policies for paddy growers and

millers in the country.The call was made by the General Manager of Labana Rice Limited,

Birnin Kebbi, Alhaji Abdullahi Idris Zuru, during a Ramadan Food Fair organized by Al-Amin

Foundation in Kaduna.Alhaji Abdullahi said the federal government should encourage rice

production by improving steady supply of electricity and discourage illegal importation of rice. e

said to ensure uninterrupted supply of paddy to millers, government must support local farmers

through provision of imputes and subsidies.Local rice farmers and millers, if encouraged can supply enough rice for the country. That is why we are appealing to the president to end

activities of those smuggling foreign rice into the country. Rice smuggling is really a problem to

local farmers and millers. Government needs to block all loopholes because we have the capacity

to produce rice required annually in the country, he said.

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/daily/index.php/news-menu/news/58907-buhari-urged-to-support-rice-

production

Millers to not sell basmati below 5,500/Q

Neel Kamal,TNN | Jul 2, 2015, 06.29 AM IST

MUKTSAR: Punjab-based basmati rice millers have decided not to sell milled rice below Rs 5,500

per quintal in the coming kharif marketing season. The millers are currently getting Rs 4,600 per Q

for milled basmati rice, which has registered a jump of Rs 700 per Q in a fortnight, owing to strong

overseas demand, they said after a meeting held in Malout town of Muktsar district on Wednesday

andPunjab Basmati Rice Millers Association spokesperson Ashish Kathuria said, "Export orders

from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are mounting, but we have very low stocks. In the prevailing

circumstances, we have decided not to sell rice below Rs 5,500 per Q. In the previous year, millers

had to suffer a loss of Rs 8,000 crore due to steep fall in the prices of basmati rice in the international

market."

He said the there was a carryover stock of 2.7 lakh tonnes of basmati paddy from the previous

season, out of which about 1.27 lakh tonne rice could be obtained after milling over next three

months. Kathuria said about 60,000 tonnes of basmati rice was available with the millers in

Punjab."As fresh crop is expected only in the last week of November, it is very hard for exporters to

buy desirable quantities of basmati rice from Punjab and Haryana according to the growing global

demand. We are expecting the prices to rise further. Apart from that, farmers are not planting much

of Pusa 1509 variety as it has lost acceptability in the international market," he added.Another

association member Bharat Bhushan Binta said that rise in the rates of basmati rice was also expected

because of weak monsoon spurred by EI Nino factor and the low food grain buffer stock with Asian

and African countries, including Ghana.

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"Expected decline in basmati acreage this season is nearly 40% in India. It is also a major factor

behind the surge in basmati rates in India," he said.He said that, last year, basmati was planted over

8.62 lakh hectares in Punjab and the output was about 35 lakh tonnes while the area under aromatic

crop was likely to be 5.5-6 lakh hectares this season with an estimated production of 22 lakh

tonnes.Amritsar-based basmati rice exporter J S Chatha said, "Due to higher international demand

and less supply from India, prices of basmati rice have increased. Also this year, the area under Pusa

1509 variety gone down, which means lesser output in the ensuing season. This could further lead to

spurt in basmati prices."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Millers-to-not-sell-basmati-below-

5500/Q/articleshow/47904674.cms DROP IN IMPORTS HAS AFFECTED REVENUE

Published on Thursday, 02 July 2015 04:00

Written by Mahmud Jega

Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service Dikko Abdullahi Inde speaks to Daily

Trust on several topical issues involving the service.It is over a year now since Nigeria

Customs Service took over Destination Inspection from private contractors. What has

happened since then? Has there been an improvement or a decline in revenue generation?

The Customs Service insisted on taking over this function from the private contractors in the

interest of this country but many Nigerians didnt seem to appreciate that. The companies contracted to carry out Destination Inspection [DI] were issuing a paper called RAR. That RAR

is a self-assessment report, an assessment of duty to be paid for imported goods. However there

were delays because RAR was only issued when the cargo arrived in Nigeria. It was only when

the goods arrive that the importer will start going to NAFDAC, SON, NDLEA, state security etc

to seek for clearance stamps. When the contract period expired and we wanted to take over,

many people thought the Customs Service would not be able to ensure a clearance procedure that

is smooth and quicker than what the contractors were doing.

The contractors were being paid with monies we collected under a fund called Comprehensive

Import Supervision Scheme, CISS. They were being paid between $20million to $40 million a

month, so by taking over the function we have now saved this money for the nation. On three

different occasions when we tried to take over this function from the contractors, we were

thwarted by some interests. When we finally took over our main focus was to simplify the

clearing procedure and to reduce the time limit for clearance. We initially targeted 48 hours. We

replaced the RAR with the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report [PAAR] which means when an

importer gets an invoice, the bank opens Form M and follows up on the procedure of import.

When the final invoice is issued the bank will upload it unto our system.

Our system will automatically profile the importer with an automatic profiling machine, his

genuineness, integrity. We will then know the type of person we are dealing with because our

policy is to encourage the compliant trader. So when we have the information and the trader is

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compliant then we give him a fast track so that when the cargo arrives he can take it out without

any hindrance. Further examination of the cargo will be done at the owners premises, together with all the other security agencies. So the PAR that contractors used to issue [after the cargo

arrived] is now issued two to three weeks before the cargos arrival.

The importer can go and pay his duty even before the cargos arrival. But if you are an importer that for example imports fans today, imports stoves tomorrow and then imports canvas shoes the

day after, then the profiling machine will not recognise you because you are a heterogeneous

importer. Under the Risk Assessment System we have the blue which is rudimentary check. We

have red which is physical examination. There is yellow which means scanning and we have

green which is release. If you have yellow then you go through scanner and if nothing is seen

you are allowed to go but if it is red, then the goods have to be examined physically, especially

goods such as used spare parts and mixed supermarket goods.

We have to examine those because of the nature of the packing. Basically, we have now run the

PAAR for more than one year and I can assure you that Nigerian traders are very happy. We

have saved Nigeria a lot of money from the payment of those contractors and we increased the

revenue by 20% from what they were collecting before. Basically, it is our job. If not because of

the drop in imports due to the economic situation which has affected the traders, we would have

done even better than that.

You mentioned the current economic situation and the drop in government revenue. How

has it affected Customs revenue targets especially since many people are hoping that since we cant get money from oil then let us get more from Customs?

It has affected our revenue targets in two ways. Most of the firms involved in the oil business are

importers, thats one. Secondly the oil price fall also affected the nairas value against the dollar which inevitably affected importers. These factors have seriously affected us because the casual

importers who used to bring in two or three containers have mostly closed shop though the large

importers are still able to get by due to economy of scale. Our hope is that when the general

economic situation improves, Customs revenue generation will also improve. So your revenue target has been affected?

Definitely! Our revenue collection i