Farmers: Coffee demand high but supply is low

FARMERS-COFFEE-DEMAND-HIGH-SUPPLY-LOW-596629

April 3, 2018

WITH more coffee shops starting operations, the demand for high-quality specialty coffees had also
increased although the current supply may not be able yet to fully support the demand, said coffee
processors of Balutakay Coffee Farmers Association (Bacofa) and Pine Valley Farm.

“At first, we really didn’t believe that our coffees have a huge potential and demand. It was only with the
intervention of DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) and the non-government organizations (NGO)
that we were able to understand that indeed there is a high demand for high-quality specialty coffees,”
Marivic Dubria, Bacofa Marketing Officer, said during a press conference Tuesday, April 3, at Frog Kaffee
Torres.

Dubria said Bacofa was able to produce 28,000kg of specialty coffee for the years 2016 and 2017. Their
coffees are being delivered to coffee shops in Manila, Iloilo, Bacolod, and Davao City. These are also
already exported to Japan.

Delio Cesar, the proprietor of Pine Valley Farm said he has average harvest of about 2 kilograms (kg) to
3kg of coffee per tree per year.

At present, they are on their second batch of harvests and Cesar estimates it to reach 500kg all in all.

In support, Thelonious Trimmel, Agricultural Cooperative Development International (Acdi/Voca) Chief of

Party said this is already a fair amount as in the Philippines, the coffees average 300 grams of harvested
coffee per tree per year only without proper care and attention of the trees.

Pine Valley Farm has a total land area of 11 hectares with seven of it allotted for coffee. During the
recently completed Philippine Coffee Quality Competition (PCQC), Cesar’s Robusta Coffee was ranked the
5th best nationwide with a rating of 85.38. Out of his seven-hectare coffee plantation, he allots three
hectares for his Robusta coffee and four hectares for his Arabica coffee.
“In order to really have good-quality coffee beans, we observe religious application of fertilizer, spraying,
and pruning. Roughly, we spend about P12,000 to P15,000 maintaining the trees per week. This excludes
the fertilizer and other stuff needed,” said Cesar in vernacular.

“We realized that the demand is really not a problem as long as we make sure that we are producing
quality and deliver well-selected beans to our clients. There is the market, we just lack the good supply.
Sometimes we cannot already cater to all the demands because we do not have enough supply,” Dubria
added.

In a bid to help out with the problem, NGOs such as Acdi/Voca had been training coffee farmers to
produce and process better coffees. Currently, Bacofa cooperative has 78 members but Dubria said they
are expecting 150 more who had completed the training conducted by Acdi/Voca. (JPA)

Apple iPhone X Demand Strong, But Supply Is A Growing Concern

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PATRICK SEITZ 10/02/2017

A new survey of likely Apple (AAPL) iPhone buyers shows strong purchase intent for the company's
upcoming iPhone X handset, but concerns are growing that the flagship smartphone will be in very short
supply for its Nov. 3 launch and months after.

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01:30

A survey of 832 likely iPhone buyers found that the iPhone X is the most sought-after model in the
current product cycle, RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani said in a report Sunday.
Some 28% of respondents are interested in buying the iPhone X. The iPhone 8 Plus was the choice of
20%, while the iPhone 8 was picked by 17%. The remainder selected lower cost, older model iPhones,
including the iPhone 7 series and iPhone 6S series.

However, demand for the 11th-generation iPhones is down from last year's 10th-generation iPhones,
RBC said.

All told, 64% of prospective iPhone buyers want either an iPhone X or iPhone 8 series phone, compared
with 71% who wanted the iPhone 7 series phones in last year's survey.

Still, demand for the iPhone X and iPhone 8 series phones, especially higher-memory versions, bodes
well for Apple's average selling prices and gross profit margin, Daryanani said.

"We think ASPs could surprise investors on the upside due to strong demand for iPhone X and $50 ASP
increase broadly this year vs. last generation," he said. "Furthermore, we think gross-margins could also
inflect higher."

Daryanani reiterated his outperform rating and price target of 180.

Apple stock was down 0.2% to close at 153.81 on the stock market today.

IBD'S TAKE: Apple stock has been below its 50-day moving average line for the past nine trading sessions,
a negative indicator. For more analysis of Apple stock, visit the IBD Stock Checkup.

Meanwhile, KGI Securities and Susquehanna Financial Group on Monday joined the parade of analysts
raising caution flags about iPhone X production.

KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo lowered his iPhone X shipping estimates for this year down from 40 million
units to from 30 million to 35 million.
Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland said iPhone X manufacturing has been "very limited" so far
and is experiencing "stop-and-go production."

"There's a growing belief that iPhone X production constraints will last into February/March, and even
second-quarter 2018."

Oil steadies as Saudi tensions balance demand outlook

Stephanie Kelly

Photo

FILE PHOTO: Pump jacks operate at sunset in an oilfield in Midland, Texas U.S. August 22, 2018

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Monday, supported by geopolitical tension over the
disappearance of a Saudi journalist that has stoked worries about supplies from Riyadh, but weighed by
concern over long-term demand outlook.

Brent crude futures for December delivery rose 35 cents to settle at $80.78 a barrel. U.S. West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 44 cents to settle at $71.78 a barrel.

Last week, both contracts fell by more than 4 percent as U.S. stock markets tumbled.

However, rising geopolitical tension between the United States, the world's top oil consumer, and Saudi
Arabia, one of the biggest crude producers, supported prices on Monday.

Riyadh has been under pressure since journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom and a U.S.
resident, disappeared on Oct. 2 after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened "severe punishment" if it is found that Khashoggi was killed
in the consulate.
Saudi Arabia said it would retaliate for any action against it over the Khashoggi case, state news agency
SPA reported on Sunday, quoting an official source. This comes at a critical time for global oil markets,
which are bracing for U.S. sanctions against Iran due to come into force on Nov. 4.

The United States is still aiming to cut Iran's oil sales to zero, Washington's special envoy for Iran said on
Monday.

Turkey and Italy are the last buyers of Iranian crude outside China, India and the Middle East, according
to tanker data and an industry source, the latest sign that shipments are taking a major hit from the
looming sanctions.

Some producers are aiming to boost production amid the falling Iranian exports, with Iraq planning to
increase oil exports from its southern ports to 4 millions barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter of
2019.

"If the Saudis don't come to the rescue when the Iranian sanctions kick in ... it's going to be a very
undersupplied market. That was the fear that was initially driving prices higher," said Phil Flynn, an
analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

However, some risk premium was taken out of the market when Trump on Monday raised the possibility
that "rogue killers" could have been responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance.

Exerting downward pressure on prices, Friday's monthly report from the International Energy Agency
said the market looked "adequately supplied for now" and cut its forecasts for world oil demand growth
this year and next. [IEA/M]

The secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries last week said that the
group saw the oil market as well supplied and that it was wary of creating a glut next year.
Market participants also focused on a weakening gasoline crack spread. Gasoline's premium to WTI sank
to $9.49, the weakest since February 2017.

"We are continuing to emphasize a virtual collapse in the NYMEX gasoline crack spreads as a bearish
consideration to the crude markets that provided a significant offset to the weekend Saudi headlines in
today's trade," Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York, Christopher Johnson in London and Meng Meng and Aizhu
Chen in Beijing; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Sandra Maler)

Harvests ease Pangasinan rice prices

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:20 AM October 17, 2018

SUN-DRIED A farmer dries freshly harvested palay (unhusked rice) on a pavement along the national
highway in Aguilar town, Pangasinan. The start of harvest may have helped bring down rice prices in the
province, local traders say. —WILLIE LOMIBAO

ROSALES, Pangasinan — Prices of rice in Pangasinan province have gone down by at least P5 per
kilogram in the past two weeks, a rice trader here said recently.

Well-milled rice sold for P40 per kilo in retail stores as palay (unhusked rice) prices dropped at the start
of the harvest season, said Roger Tan, who owns a rice mill here.

A 50-kilo sack of rice used to sell for P2,200 but had been priced at P2,000 while a 50-kilo sack of
imported commercial rice had been sold for P2,100, Tan said.

Farmers, who harvested earlier, sold their palay for P27 a kilo.
Family feuds spill into poll races in provinces

When floods struck Pangasinan in August and September, farmers sold their palay for P20 to P22 a kilo,
but traders were now buying palay for P23 a kilo, he said.

Harvest not finished

Palay prices may go down further to P21 a kilo toward December as farmers continue to harvest, he said.
Only 20 percent of the farms in Pangasinan have been harvested so far.

Last month, Nestor Batalla, assistant provincial agriculturist, told the provincial board that lower rice
production was expected in the province this year after the destruction of 14,000 hectares of rice farms
by Typhoon “Ompong” (international name: Mangkhut).

It would be too late to rehabilitate these farms this first cropping season, and planting may start in
November or December when the second cropping season starts, Batalla said.

Pangasinan, the country’s third largest rice-producing province, posted a 1.3-million metric ton
production last year, making the province rice self-sufficient, Batalla said.

Nueva Ecija queue

In Nueva Ecija province, people still lined up last week for rice distributed by the National Food Authority
(NFA) despite the start of harvest, as commercial rice remained expensive in the market.

The NFA also imported high-quality rice stocks, said Demosthenes Mananguit, president of a group of
rice retailers accredited by the NFA here.
“NFA rice now is white, has no foul odor or ‘bukbok’ (weevils), and is a lot cheaper at P32 per kilo,” he
said.

The prevailing farm gate price of short grain palay is P19 a kilo while long grain sold for P20-21 a kilo.

Local palay traders mill rice sold at the market while big rice mills deliver their stocks to Metro Manila
markets. —REPORTS FROM GABRIEL CARDINOZA AND ANSELMO ROQUE

Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1043803/harvests-ease-pangasinan-rice-

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