Somkiat Anuras, vice-chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) said that Brazil along with other Latin American countries offered Thailand great potential, its vast population and resources as well as high purchasing power. Anuras who travelled with a trade delegation led by Thailand Trade Representative Vachara Panchet last month to Brazil and Panama added that most Thai exporters still remained reluctant to tap into the region despite immense opportunities.

The chamber has recently modified it projections on Thai exports to the Latin America region by $7.5bn for this year from $5bn. While the earlier forecast between this year and 2015 was $10bn but latest release says those figures could go up to $15bn per annum in the coming years.

The TCC vice chairman said as the world was eager to trade with Brazil owing to its growing economic status, the chamber was not far behind to take stock of the situation. While Brazil, South America’s biggest economy and the world’s eighth largest, commences work on 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, the chamber regards that it may provide opportunities for Thai contractors and souvenir producers.

Anuras opines that the Thai investors must forge joint ventures with the Brazilian infrastructure developers to derive infrastructure building opportunities which will be surfacing with the preparation of two mega sporting events. Brazil is expected to spend billions of dollars for add on construction of basic infrastructure, buildings, offices and residences as well as sports arenas, hospitals, hotels and shopping complexes.

Last year, Thailand exported chiefly, automobiles and parts, rubber and machinery to Brazil US$1.22bn worth goods. Although the bilateral trade accrued a trade deficit of $880mn against Thailand due to imports totaling $2.1bn, Brazil still remains the largest trade partner of Thailand in the region.

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Agriculture Minister of India Sharad Pawar is reported to have informed his Russian counterpart Yelena Skrynnik that his country had the capability to meet those demands as and when they emerged. While both ministers met at the sidelines of the BRIC Agriculture Ministerial Meet, Skrynnik told that though abundant stocks of poultry products were available at the moment, we would turn to India whenever a requirement sprang up.

A sudden demand for poultry in Russia has resulted due to the ban imposed on the US and Brazilian poultry as imports from these countries did not meet Russian poultry standards. According to sources, Russian sanitary standards are quite stringent than internationally accepted ones. The Russian poultry imports from the US at some point of time had even risen up to 80 percent in the past but the new sanitary requirements enforced since Jan 1 have completely stopped all imports from the US.

It should be recalled that India too faced several import bans including the existing one from Russia on its meat and poultry products. Nevertheless, a Russian expert group is expected to visit India shortly to review this long-standing export ban.

Pawar said India was exporting bovine meat and poultry products to 60 countries, including Europe, and there was “enormous potential” for exports to Russia as well. Likewise, Skrynnik apprised that Russia last year had imported 600,000 tonnes of poultry and one million tonnes of meat.

However, it is not known that the good news to the poultry and meat industry of India would turn sour to domestic consumers like that of Turkey as it has been feared in Turkey that the export approval for 500,000 tonnes of white meat to Russia could jack up domestic poultry prices significantly. Besides, the Turkish consumers are worried that the new orders from Russia would even cause severe poultry shortage in the country even though Turkish Agriculture Minister, Mehdi Eker argues that production for exports and domestic needs are met separately.

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Consequently, several Latin American and Asian countries will be importing more rice to offset the resulting shortage. The South American countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia and Panama and the Asian countries like India and the Philippines are understood to have increased their import quotas as El Nino effect is likely to last till June.

The US Rice Producers Association President Dwight Roberts told Bloomberg that Brazil may start buying this month, a total of 1mn metric tons throughout the year, direct fallout of El Nino. In another statement, the Agriculture Undersecretary of the Philippines Bernardo Fondevilla said his country, the world’s biggest rice buyer could lose more than 0.8mn tons of paddy rice, from a severe dry spell caused by El Nino triggering renewed rice imports.

Brazil would be importing from Vietnam, the largest rice exporter behind Thailand after the latter fulfills its November and December tenders from the Philippines. As per the Philippines National Food Authority figures, the delivery of four tender amounting to 2.25mn tons mostly from Vietnam would start from January to June.

The Filipino government has set aside about $37mn to mitigate the impact of El Nino on crop and fishery production this year. The phenomenon is expected to devastate 453,204 hectares of rice, 227,843 hectares of corn fields and 14,160 hectares of the fishery industry in the Philippines alone.

Robert on a rice update to Bloomberg informed that Iraq, the fifth largest rice importer, might buy at least 120,000 tons by next week. El Nino effect is likely to peak this month causing speculative buying in the global rice market.

Robert told that the apparent decline in Mercosur production and increased demand in the South American and other Central American countries, supplies will be tight and some markets could pay considerably higher prices for imported rice. The data on rice stockpiles and production trickling in from almost all regions across the globe indicate world rice market is in for severe price rice which in a worst case scenario could even reach the all time high of 2008.

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