YANGON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The fall in world rice prices is hurting exporters in Myanmar, who say they are shipping grain at a loss, and is adding to the problems of poor farmers struggling to recover from Cyclone Nargis.
"A tonne of our 25 percent broken rice now fetches only $250 in the international market," one rice exporter told Reuters.
"With a 10 percent deduction for export tax, we get only $225 per tonne, compared with about $260 a tonne we had to pay in the domestic market a few months ago," the exporter said, asking not to be identified.
Vietnamese 25 percent broken rice, an Asian benchmark, was quoted at around $335 per tonne this week. Rice from Myanmar is generally of inferior quality because of poor milling. The main buyers are Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and African countries.
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