Kuala Lumpur, Feb 13 - Malaysia, one of the world's top rice importers, will see purchases tumble by 40 percent to 600,000 tonnes this year as it cranks up domestic production and maintains its ample stockpile, a senior minister said on Friday.The Southeast Asian nation is delaying signing contracts with leading Asian exporters, adding to the rising picture of oversupply after top importer the Philippines had already signed a deal to cover most of its needs for the year.

THE Executive Director of Sustainable Social Action for the Reduction of Poverty (SSARP), Mr. Richard Addo, has disclosed that Ghana's demand for rice, currently stands at 700,000 metric tonnes, but the local Ghanaian rice farmer is able to produce only 150,000, leaving a deficit of 550 metric tonnes. This deficit, according to the Executive Director, was very appalling, but said if the Ghanaian local rice farmer was able to employ best and modern methods of farming, the problem would be arrested in the near future.

NEW DELHI (February 06 2009): India is planning to further subsidise basmati rice in an attempt to push Pakistani basmati rice out of international market. Commerce Secretary G K Pillai here said the government is looking at another cut in the minimum export price (MEP) for the basmati rice to help domestic players compete with their counterparts from Pakistan. “We have asked the state governments to forward their views on lowering of price for exports,” Pillai said on the sidelines of an International Conference here.

HANOI, Vietnam -- Vietnam expects to export 1.5 million tons of rice this year to the Philippines, the government said Wednesday, in its first confirmation of the size of a massive deal that boosted export quotations.

The pact, accounting for 30 percent of Vietnam's projected export volume this year, would fill the annual grain import needs of the Philippines, the world's largest rice buyer.