Brazil to Auction 55,000 Metric Tons of Rice, Ministry Says

Brazil to Auction 55,000 Metric Tons of Rice, Ministry Says

By Diana Kinch

May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's state-owned National Supplies Co. will auction 55,000 metric tons of rice tomorrow, the country's ministry of agriculture said.

The government currently has 1.4 million tons of rice, equivalent to 10 percent of Brazil's annual consumption, the ministry said in an e-mailed statement. The stocks to be auctioned are held in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina states, it said.

The measure will help keep prices down and establish a reference price for rice, the statement said, citing Paulo Morceli, basic foods manager of Conab, as the supplies company is known. According to information on the Conab Web site, the rice will be auctioned at 28 reais ($16.98) for a 50-kilogram bag.

Jose Maria dos Anjos, sales and supplies director at the ministry, denied Brazil faces a rice shortage, according to the statement. ``By February 2009, the end of the next rice cycle, the domestic market will have supplies of 13.8 million tons of rice,'' dos Anjos is reported as saying.