Throughout the Delta growers have been consumed with planting and battling poor weather conditions. As a result, there was very little selling interest this past week. It also didn’t help that some of the early buying interest seems to have slowed, especially in Louisiana where cash prices have softened more than $1.50 per cwt from previous new crop sales. At the current levels, the spot market is proving uneventful. 

Given the weather conditions and the difficulty in getting the crop planted, the volume of acres is becoming increasingly dynamic. The prevented planting subject is being widely discussed, and while we are told that the rice will get planted, there are plenty of growers seriously weighing their options. Of course, moving into the new marketing year on fumes and with the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus, rice farmers want to plant. Rice has been one of the most resilient and even most rewarded commodities throughout the pandemic.  

Arkansas is well ahead of last year in regards to planting, but lags the 5-year average by 12%. At 76% planted, the story in Arkansas is far from over, especially for medium grain where acres are projected to be down from early intentions. 

Asia rice prices were mixed this week with Thailand prices trading up $5 per ton at $495, Vietnam trading sideways and Myanmar prices resurfacing $15 per ton lower than the most recent quote. Logistical issues in India continue to hamstring the country’s rice industry, in many cases causing shipping delays or cancellations. The USDA further corroborated this information in a report which showed a sharp decline in year over year shipments from key India ports.  

In Latin America, Uruguay and Argentina are generating strong exports throughout the region and even into Mexico.  Brazil is largely tied up with confronting a worsening coronavirus situation, as is Mexico. Brazil hit a record high new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, signaling that the country is far from flattening the curve. As this situation develops, Brazil will need to ramp up food imports to provide food security. This is made difficult due to the value of Real, which is one of the world’s worst performing currencies in 2020.  

Futures action this week was relatively light, as the July contract only gained $0.08 per cwt from last week to end Thursday’s session at $16.04 per cwt. Volume fell 57% against last week to 279 and while open interest was only down 1.8%.  

 

This week, USDA and USTR announce continued progress on implementation of the U.S.-China Phase One Agreement. Recent actions include:

These actions build upon a number of actions China has already taken including updating lists of approved facilities, updating product lists, and lifting bans on poultry and poultry products.

“China is a market of tremendous potential for U.S. agriculture and these actions will help U.S. exporters expand their sales there. We look forward to continued cooperative work with China on implementation of Phase One commitments, and immediate increases in U.S. exports of all manner of agricultural products,” said Sonny Perdue.

The scheduling of Congress this week highlighted the different approaches between the Senate and House in conducting legislative business. The Senate continues to work on nominations and conduct committee business which includes COVID-10 response and FY21 appropriations bill. The Senate has scheduled the following State Work Periods:

 

May 25 - May 29, State Work Period, Memorial Day - May 25

Jul 3 - Jul 17, State Work Period, Independence Day - Jul 4

Aug 10 - Sep 7, State Work Period, Labor Day - Sep 7

Sep 28 - Sep 29, State Work Period

Oct 12 - Nov 6, State Work Period, Columbus Day - Oct 12

Nov 11 - Veterans Day

Nov 23 - Nov 27, State Work Period, Thanksgiving - Nov 26

Dec 21 - Dec 31, State Work Period

The House is anticipated to return May 27-28 and expected legislation is FISA, small business reforms to the Paycheck Protection Plan bill, and possibly another COVID-related bill. On May 20 ^th, Speaker Pelosi activated a 45-day authorization for proxy voting after the House approved an Emergency Rules Change on May 15 (217-189). The rule change authorizes the Speaker, in consultation with the Minority Leader, to temporarily implement remote committee proceedings and remote voting in the House. The authority lasts for 45 days and can be extended or renewed if the public health emergency persists or there is a resurgence.

Current leadership scheduling scenario is for House Members to be back about every two weeks with committee work happening in-between. According to sources the plans for future floor consideration is to pair a COVID-related bill with other work that needs to be done. House Members will get 72 hours’ notice to return to DC for additional votes. The House priorities are to complete markup of the FY21 NDAA, a transportation bill, and WRDA. FY 21 appropriations also remains a priority.

The HEROES Act passed by House on May 15, 208-199 is estimated to cost $3T. Senate Majority Leader McConnell will not bring up the bill and the President threatened a veto. Majority Leader McConnell said after meeting with President Trump that the Senate will wait a couple more weeks to determine the next steps for the economy as it evaluates how the first bills have been implemented. Therefore, while the Senate will likely consider another supplemental bill, no date has been set. Factors that could speed up the process includes requiring funding for the Payment Protection Plan, unemployment, liability agreement, fixes to previous legislation, and/or economic impacts.

By: Dr. Mo Way, Prof. of Entomology, Texas AgriLife Research & Extension Ctr.

For this article, I want to highlight the student award winners of the 2020 Rice Technical Working Group Meeting (RTWG) held February 24-27, 2020 at Orange Beach, AL. The meeting was a big success and we (US rice scientists) applaud the efforts of our Mississippi colleagues, in particular Drs. Jason Bond, Bobby Golden, and Jeff Gore, who did a lot of the organizational work putting on this biennial conference. We also thank Dr. Wayne Ebelhar for heading up the student oral/poster competition.

For the poster competition:

For the oral competition:

Plant Protection Panel

Rice Culture Panel

Weed Control and Growth Regulation Panel

These students are recognized for advancing rice science in the US. They represent the next generation of rice scientists who will help provide answers to future problems to keep our industry sustainable, productive and successful.