China trader says rice exports to continue

By Niu Shuping

BEIJING (Reuters) - China, which produces nearly a third of the world's rice, will continue exports this year despite Beijing's effort to discourage grains shipments abroad, an official with the country's top trader said on Tuesday.

News of more rice from China, which ranked sixth in the world with over 4 percent of global exports last year, may help temper the fears that have pushed up prices more than twofold this year due in part to export curbs by big suppliers fighting domestic inflation.

The rally has added to food-related inflation, caused food riots in parts of Africa and heightened fears about food security for importers, but China -- which holds about half of the world's rice stocks -- appears well set to ride out the turmoil.

"We will continue to export a proper amount this year, but it is hard to say how much now," Yang Hong, head of the rice department at state grains trader COFCO Co. Ltd, told Reuters.

She said COFCO was in talks over new contracts, even though Beijing hasn't issued new quotas for overseas shipments.

"We don't see any problem in domestic supplies," said Yang, but declined to give more details.

China's rice exports rose 7 percent to 1.32 million metric tons last year, equal to only about 1 percent of its production. Shipments have accelerated this year, climbing 39 percent in the first quarter to over 600,000 metric tons, according to official government data released on Tuesday.

That includes 255,400 metric tons in March, despite the fact that Beijing has yet to renew its annual rice export permits, the last batch of which expired before March 1.