Situation/weather: The rains, which were so sorely lacking during the sowing and the development period of our rice, are back as you can see. The river went up to a more normal situation and we are taking advantage to refill smoothly our reservoir which reached it lowest level due to the intense drought the entire region faced earlier this cycle.
Production: The harvest of our 1st block (538 has) is almost completed, and production is know processed to be dried and stored in our silos. As for our 2nd block (438 has), our engineers consider that the plants have not developed enough to worth any harvest.
We faced water stress conditions for this block during vegetative, flowering and grain filling stages. Water stress at vegetative stage significantly reduced plant height and total biomass due to decrease of photosynthesis rate and dry matter accumulation. However, water stress at flowering stage had a greater grain yield reduction than water stress at other times.
Only weeds have developed well as you can see. The minor small rains we registered during the 2nd semester 2020 only help to boost them. Weeds have competed with rice for water, nutrients, space and light.
As a result, we have decided not to harvest the entire block and the land will be cleaning for the next cycle.
Market: Global rice output is tentatively expected at a new peak on bigger outturns in Asian producers, including India and China. Consumption is also forecast to trend higher on population growth, albeit with uptake in India potentially declining due to the conclusion of COVID-19-related food security schemes. Following a contraction in the prior season, world stocks could edge up.
For now, local prices remain at peak level as most of the farmers have not started yet their harvest. Given the drought faced by all producers, the production will contract but producers are going to be forced to sell what could be saved to cover their costs under conditions set up by mills due to the High level of indebtedness of producers and accumulation of bad cycles.