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In This Issue:
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Market Update: Low Mississippi River Level Complicates Rice Exports
- USRPA Plays Crucial Role in Ecuadorean Market Opening
- Washington, D.C. Update
- USRPA Visits Mexico City
- Farm Bill Roundtable with Senators Schmitt and Boozman
- USDA Announces $1.3 Billion Investment for Regional Agricultural Promotion Program
- RMTC 2024: We Want to Hear from You!
- 3rd Annual Ray Stoesser Memorial Scholarship: Application Open
- Photo from Rice Country
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Market Update: Low Mississippi River Level Complicates Rice Exports | |
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There are a few significant items to unpack this week; some domestic and more international. To look first at the international scene, the items of interest are the Argentinian currency debacle and Indonesia’s ballooning imports. To look first at the Western Hemisphere and Argentina, where inflation has skyrocketed as high as 130% according to some reports. There is a major political battle taking place in the country right now, with some factions wanting to convert to the U.S. dollar and others wanting to fix their own problems with their own currency. To quote one article from Bloomberg, “Swapping currencies still won’t address Argentina’s root problem: a gargantuan-sized government growing even bigger within an economy constantly shrinking.” Problems like this obviously create trade concerns, and there is no consensus yet on how to resolve the issue. Direct impacts on the rice trade will come to light in spring 2024 when their new crop is harvested.
The Indonesian government’s decision to boost imports has had a direct impact on Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Pakistan. Of the additional 1.8 MMT of rice imports, 700 TMT is needed this calendar year to distribute to the poor. Indonesia’s election is on February 14, 2024, so having stockpiles for distribution through that date is the priority right now. There is an implicit assumption that China may come into play in 2024, or a possible G2G deal with India (India now has G2G deals with UAE, several West African countries, Nepal, and others) to finish out Indonesia’s import demand, but there is no direct news on that yet.
Turning now to the home front, harvest is wrapping up in all states but California, but even there the late harvest is approaching 75% complete. With mills running full steam against solid domestic and international demand, the hiccup is shipping milled products from the northern parts of the Mississippi River. Low water levels are limiting how much-milled rice can be loaded on each barge, therefore impacting profit margins for the mills. This problem is affecting not only rice but all grains and pulses being shipped from northern Arkansas and above. Significant weather systems in the region aren’t pointing to any immediate relief from the dry conditions, and precipitation is the only thing that can solve this problem in the near term.
Prices in Asia show a continued relaxation in Thailand, with FOB prices getting as low as $575 pmt, down $5 pmt from last week. In Vietnam, however, strong demand is holding prices firm at $635 pmt. We typically see forces that drive convergence in these two markets, and the price difference right now is due largely to supplies and availability. Myanmar is just below $600 pmt, and now Pakistan is registering at $550 pmt.
The weekly USDA Export Sales reports show net sales of 65,100 MT this week, up noticeably from the previous week and up 51% from the prior 4-week average. Increases primarily for Haiti (22,700 MT), Japan (13,000 MT), El Salvador (6,000 MT), Honduras (6,000 MT), and Costa Rica (6,000 MT). Exports of 70,100 MT were up significantly from both the previous week and the 4-week average. The destinations were primarily to Mexico (28,300 MT), Nicaragua (27,600 MT), Haiti (8,000 MT), South Korea (2,200 MT), and Canada (1,800 MT).
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USRPA Plays Crucial Role in Ecuadorean Market Opening | |
The Ecuadorean Reverse Trade Servicing Trip Hosted by USRPA in September included a stop at USDA-FGIS in Stuttgart, AR. | |
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Earlier this week, Ecuador’s AgroCalidad finalized their initial entry requirements for U.S. rough rice, a direct result of a reverse trade servicing trip hosted by USRPA last month. As we shared in a previous edition of the Rice Advocate, USRPA hosted a group of Ecuadorean rice millers and two AgroCalidad officials in mid-September with stops in Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Their knowledge of the market outside of Ecuador has been extremely limited until Spring 2023, when CORPCOM, Ecuador’s millers’ association, invited USRPA to a series of virtual meetings to discuss Western Hemisphere market conditions and the outlook for the 2023 U.S. harvest. Plans grew from there for a reverse trade servicing trip. While some industry members objected to the visit, USRPA moved forward knowing the opportunity could not be missed. The site visits culminated with a meeting between APHIS and AgroCalidad at the end of the week. With the Ecuadorean industry leaders quite pleased with the trip, USRPA staff was optimistic that this week’s announcement would come to fruition.
“On behalf of CORPCOM, we want to thank the USRPA for putting together an excellent week of meetings that are so important for the whole Ecuadorean rice supply chain, especially the end consumer,” said Juan Pablo Zuniga, president of CORPCOM. “This will strengthen our relations with U.S. rice farmers, taking into consideration our current needs due to the situation caused by the El Niño phenomenon.”
The resulting purchases will be the country’s first since the late 90’s. USRPA is proud to have been instrumental in bringing U.S. rough rice back into Ecuador and thanks our partners at USDA and APHIS for their support in the process.
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House Elects Rep. Mike Johnson as Speaker
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives elected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Speaker of the House. The House had been operating without a permanent leader since October 4 when Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted from the role—the first time in history a Speaker of the House has been voted to be removed—on October 4. In the weeks since the House Republican Conference had struggled to identify a candidate who could receive enough support to win on the whole House floor. Speaker Johnson was a dark horse candidate who successfully received votes from every Republican in attendance on Wednesday, ultimately winning on a 220-209 vote.
As part of his efforts to garner support from his fellow Republicans, Speaker Johnson sent a letter outlining his intended schedule for the remainder of the 118th Congress. In this letter, he says he intends to prioritize the funding bills for fiscal year 2024, including addressing concerns with the agriculture appropriations bill which failed to be passed last month. Also of note in the letter is passing a farm bill in December.
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USRPA staff members Grace Wang and Iris Figueroa traveled to Mexico City last week, visiting promotional activities in retail stores and restaurants and continuing to engage with ATOs and Mexican trade members to promote interest in U.S. rice in the market. USRPA’s Mexican campaign USA Arroz targets consumers and trade, educating Mexican consumers and promoting the consumption of U.S. rice.
The promotional activities that they visited included menu implementation using U.S. rice as an ingredient at five restaurants: Loretta, Ostreria 109, Cabreria, Les Divins Bistro, and Alay Alay, a cooking session at Walmart, and a U.S. rice training session in collaboration with chef influencer Carlos Leal. They also conducted store checks at Soriana and Tiendas DZ which participated in the USA Arroz campaign this year. They met with importer Jonathan Martínez from El Alazan, with whom USRPA collaborated on a promotional campaign in Mexico City to promote U.S. rice across 21 stores.
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Retail cooking show at Walmart featuring U.S. rice as the star ingredient. | Chef Carlos Leal with a participant from the school Superior de Gastronomia. | Left to right: USRPA CFO, Grace Wang, Chef Abel Herandez @ Loretta Restaurant, USRPA Office and Technology Manager, Iris Figueroa, and Trade Marketing Specialist for Imalinx, Priscilla Baker at Loretta Restaurant, one of the five restaurants included menu implementation using U.S. rice. | Menu discussion with Chef Raul Valencia at Ostreria 109, one of the five restaurants that have implemented U.S. rice in their menu. | Left to right: Armando Olvera, Commercial Director for La Merced, Mexico while visiting at the U.S. rice training session; Iris Figueroa - USRPA, and Grace Wang - USRPA. | |
Customers were able to have a sample of the dish being prepared and take a bag or two of rice home. | |
U.S. rice training session in collaboration with chef influencer Carlos Leal consisted of these
wonderful 4 plates:
Top left: U.S. rice with duck breast, top right: Rice fritters with saffron cream; Bottom left: "Arroz con leche"; Bottom right: Rice with lamb and curry.
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Menu sample at Loretta Restaurant joined by Lita Echiverri, FAS, Washington, D.C., and Denise Soria,
Senior ATO/FAS/Mexico City
| Beautiful U.S. rice dish prepared by Chef Raul Valencia at Osteria 109. | Visiting DZ stores and talking to store front manager and employees with Jonathan Martinez, Marketing Manager at Bodega de Granos El Alazán and Priscilla Baker, Trade Marketing Specialist for Imalinx. | |
Some of the 35 students that participated in the training session in collaboration with chef influencer Carlos Leal. | U.S. rice dish prepared by Chef Abel Herandez @ Loretta Restaurant. | Menu at Ostreria 109 with the "USA Arroz" logo. | USRPA's Grace Wang and Imalinx's Priscilla Baker checking out U.S. rice at Soriana stores. | |
USRPA Participates in Farm Bill Roundtable with Senators Schmitt and Boozman | |
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Last Friday, US Rice Producers Association was invited to participate in a Farm Bill Round Table with Senator Eric Schmitt (MO) and Senator John Boozman (AR), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. The session took place at the University of Missouri's Bradford Research Farm in Columbia. USRPA Chief Operating Officer Mollie Buckler represented the organization and the Missouri Rice Council at the event, advocating for increased reference prices and an increase in funding for market export programs. Buckler noted that two reverse trade servicing trips had made their way through Missouri in the past month alone, thanks to Market Access Program funding.
"Senators Boozman and Schmitt understand the needs of our industry and U.S. agriculture's impact on not only our local communities but the entire world. We're fortunate to have them advocating for us in Washington," Buckler said.
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USDA Announces $1.3 Billion Investment for Regional Agricultural Promotion Program | |
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On Thursday, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a $2.3 billion investment in market development and food aid, including $1.3 billion for a Regional Agricultural Promotion Program, or RAPP, which will enable exporters to break into new markets and increase market share in growth markets.
According to USDA, for every $1 invested in export market development, exports are increased by $24.50. Increased agricultural exports means income directly back to producers.
"In the midst of a constantly evolving global rice market, we're grateful to have USDA's support in growing new markets and bolstering existing ones," Marcela Garcia, President and CEO of US Rice Producers Association, said. "We're grateful for the continued partnership with Congress and USDA to help the U.S. rice producer find success around the world."
Details on the program's regulations and timeline are still forthcoming.
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RMTC 2024: We want to hear from you! | |
2024 agenda planning is well underway, but we want to hear from you! Have an idea for a session topic or a speaker that is the perfect fit for the Rice Market & Technology Convention? Let us know by emailing us or filling out the form below. | |
3rd Annual Ray Stoesser Memorial Scholarship: Application process is now open! | | |
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Food & Agriculture
Regulatory & Policy Roundup
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Grain: World Markets and Trade
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World Agricultural Production
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January 17, 2024
Western Rice Belt Conference
El Campo, TX
More Information Soon
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January 30-31, 2024
27th Annual National Conservation Systems Cotton & Rice Conference
Jonesboro, AR
More Information
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February 10, 2024
Texas Rice Roundup
Richmond, TX
More Information Soon
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June 4 - 6, 2024
Rice Market & Technology Convention
Cancun, Mexico
More Information Soon
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USRPA does not discriminate in its programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, or marital/family status. Persons who require alternative means for communication of information (such as Braille, large print, sign language interpreter or translation) should contact USRPA at 713-974-7423. |
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