1. Union Agricultural Minister, Sharad Pawar claimed that despite of inadequate rain in several eastern states of India, the country's rice production in the 2010-11 crop year will be better than 2009-10.
However, Pawar informed that production could be lower than his initial expectation of 100 million tonnes.
"This year (2010), monsoon has been good. Because of deficient rain in West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, the production of paddy may not be that good as initially I was expecting," stated Pawar.
India’s rice production declined to 89.13 million tonnes in the 2009-10 crop year from a record 99.18 million tonnes in the previous year on account of a severe drought in 2009 that hit almost half of the country.
2. Iran's state purchasing agency has issued a rice tender in order to purchase 30,000 MT of rice with shipments in December 2010.
According to Thomson Reuters, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, Argentina and Uruguay are accepted origins for the latest Iranian tender. Iran had earlier bought 30,000 MT in two previous tenders that were closed on November 9 and November 12 2010 respectively.