China’s Rice Import + Bread in France

choi

(1) Sameer Mohindru and Warangkana Chomchuen, 亚洲大米供应过剩问题可能加剧. 华尔街日报中文版, July 31, 2013
http://cn.wsj.com/gb/20130731/bas114847.asp


, which is translated from

Sameer Mohindru and Warangkana Chomchuen, In Asia, Rice Glut But Higher Prices Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2013.
http://stream.wsj.com/story/late ... -63399/SS-2-290091/

Quote:

"The glut is driving down prices for big rice importers in Africa and China. But consumers in some of the biggest rice-producing nations, including Thailand and India, are paying higher prices as surplus supplies sit in government warehouses. Asia’s surplus will have little impact in the US, which produces different varieties of rice. * * * The two markets [for rice produced in Asia and in US] tend to move independently.

"The surplus is the result of good weather and government programs that encourage rice growing.

"India [is] the world’s biggest [rice] exporter

"The council’s [London-based International Grains Council's] index of global rice prices fell to 200 on Friday, its lowest since September 2010 and down almost 5% this year. However, prices vary widely from country to country, because rice is largely sold where it is produced. Just 8% is traded internationally, compared with about 20% for wheat and 36% for soybeans.

Note:
(a) The Ma administration a year ago adopted a policy to encourage rice planting, "in case of war."  I thought it was unwise. Year after year government of Taiwan has to sell the rice in strategic reserve at a discount (for staleness). Besides, if a war breaks out, Taiwan always has the east coast where China can not reach.
(b) International Grains Council (international organization)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Grains_Council_(international_organization)
(established in 1949 at the initiative of the US government; section 4 Council membership)
© The essence of the report is that glut of Asian rice brings down global rice price, but in some pockets rice prices rise because rice is mostly grown and consumed locally.

choi

(2) Zhoudong Shangguan, China's Wheat, Rice Import Demand to Ebb. Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2013.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 29233390424070.html

Quote:

China "will be able to sustain a 98% self-sufficiency rate over the next 10 years, according to a report jointly issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

"The US Department of Agriculture expects China to pass Nigeria to become the world's largest rice importer in the next marketing year. The USDA forecast China will import 3 million tons of rice in the year that will begin in July.

"According to the UN forecast, per-capita consumption of wheat has already peaked, and that for rice will peak in 2014, as people shift their diets to meat and dairy products. At the same time, the report said, China's demand for corn and for high-protein food like meat and dairy is expected to rise.

My comment:
(a) Zhoudong SHANGGUAN: News reports, in Chinese, by "中国日报网站记者上官周冬" appeared in 2006 and 2007.
(b) marketing year
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_year

I double check, and indeed the marketing year for rice, in US, is Aug 1-July 31.
(c) The first sentence of quotation 3 probably talks about China, judging from the context.

choi

(3) Carolyn Cui, China Rice Imports Unsettle Market; Enduring shift in supply/demand, or a profitable trade?  Wall Street Journal, Jan 8, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 28052284001608.html
("In the global rice market, a big and surprising buyer has emerged: China. For decades, China's booming rice production enabled it to sell far more rice than it bought. But the world's biggest consumer of the grain has become a major importer. In 2012, the country bought a record 2.6 million tons of milled rice, according to the US Department of Agriculture")

My comment: View the bar charts only. In 2012 China started importing signigficantly more rice than exporting it. As for the 2013-2014 "forecast" in the bar charts, that was in a January report. In between January and the June WSJ report, USDA revised upward China's rice import for the 2013 marketing year.

choi

(4) Elaine Sciolino, A French Dining Staple Is Losing Its Place at the Table. New York Times, July 31, 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/3 ... e-at-the-table.html

Quote:

“The average Frenchman these days eats only half a baguette a day compared with almost a whole baguette in 1970 and more than three in 1900.

“At a bit more than a dollar a loaf, the basic baguette is one of the country’s cheapest food staples. Ten billion baguettes are sold every year in France.

“Bread [in France] is ceding its place on the table to rivals like breakfast cereals, pasta and rice.

My comment:
(a) The report does not mention sliced bread. I am mystified; the French must eat sliced bread sometimes.
(b) French English dictionary:
(i) “Observatoire du Pain, the bakers’ and millers’ lobby”
* observatoire (noun masculine): “observatory”
(ii) “‘Coucou, tu as pris le pain?’ (‘Hi there, have you picked up the bread?’)”
* coucou “(noun masculine): cuckoo, cuckoo clock; (exclamation): hello!, cooee!, woo! (Slang)”
* tu (pronoun): “you”

French personal pronouns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_personal_pronouns
(section 1 Overview; section 1.1 The second person)

* pris is the past participle of prendre (root of the verb). See
French verb morphology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_verb_morphology
(section 11 Past participle: prendre [pris])

The latter (prendre) is defined as “(with hands: pick up, steal) to take an object, person; to take medicine; to have a meal, food, drink)”
http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/dictionary/prendre.html

(c) “A national bread festival is held every May around the feast of Saint Honoré (the patron saint of bakers)”

For Saint Honoré, see Honoratus of Amiens
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honoratus_of_Amiens
(died ca 600;

Search the Wiki page with “bread.”

(d) sourdough
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough
(section 1 Introduction; section 4 History of sourdough)