THE Rice Company of Fiji Ltd is forecasting lower sales volume in the backdrop of overall slowdown and increased competition on the rice production front.
Company chairman Gary Callaghan however said they were constantly looking for opportunities to ride the growth cycle despite increased competition locally.
The company released its 2019 annual report which showed that during the year under review, revenue grew by 9 per cent to $30.30 million from $27.83m in the previous year.
The financial statements also showed that the net profit increased by 14 per cent to $2.89m in comparison with $2.54m recorded in the previous financial year.
Mr Callaghan said while the company maintained the dividend of 35 cents per share on par with last year’s dividend, resulting in an outflow of $2.1m, its share price on the South Pacific Exchange continued to grow and was quoting at $8.00 per share as at August 30, 2019.
Meanwhile in its outlook the company states that on the rice production front, less attractive margins and adverse weather are tentatively forecast to constrain world rice production in 2019 from expanding beyond the all-time high 2018 level.
Mr Callaghan said the international trade in rice was forecast to contract by 3.1 per cent in 2019 to 46.8 million tonnes, pressured by waning import demand from Bangladesh and Indonesia, as well as from China, Nepal, Sri Lanka and various West African countries.
He said despite the forecast stagnation, world rice supplies were projected to rebound by 4.5 per cent growth in 2020, bolstering expectations of increasing global rice utilisation.
