Rice registers slight rise in price in the area of Guayas
Ecuadornews:

The quintal of rice ready for consumption has registered a slight rise in centers of sale of rice cantons. In Tres Postes, area of Guayas, the quintal that sold for $ 24 until a few weeks ago, now is sold between $ 26 and $ 27.
The merchants relate the increase to that some piladoras are depleting their stock of rice and others adduced to the losses of rice due to the winter season and that they suppose a smaller harvest in the next weeks.
The prices that are paid to the producer for the rice in husks also have a slight increase. In Los Ríos and Manabí, the producers tell us that they are paying between $ 28 and $ 30 for the good-quality (200-pound) take-off. Before that, they were receiving between $ 22 and $ 23, something that involved claims.
Juan Pablo Zúñiga, president of the Ecuadorian Rice Industrialists Corporation, believes that the movement of prices is due to exports to Colombia, because large inventories are being sold in the batteries and in the Storage Unit.
That, according to the leader, causes that internal prices are pushed and that the rice producer receives something more. But he estimates that with the next harvest they will stabilize.
At the beginning of this month, a consultative board set a price of $ 29 for the takeoff, but the ministerial agreement is not yet in force.
Mariela Moreira, manager of the Association of Agricultural Producers of Los Ríos, believes that this price of $ 29 would not cover all expenses, since in Los Rios the cost of production per hectare ranges from $ 1,200 to $ 1,300. “We hope that it is respected, that the batteries respect it, because with the price of $ 35.50 they paid down, of $ 22 and up to $ 18,” said the agricultural leader. (I)
Source: https://www.eluniverso.com/guayaquil/2019/03/24/nota/7248383/arroz-registra-ligera-alza-precio