Missouri Rice Field Day: August 20

More Information

US Rice Producers Association, in its continuous effort to promote and increase U.S. rice consumption worldwide and as part of the Market Access Program 2024, developed a marketing campaign in Central America that was conducted in June and July. The campaign was implemented in El Salvador and Honduras, carrying out in-store cooking demonstrations and partnering with key actors in the rice industries of these countries.

The goal of the program is to increase U.S. rice sales by teaching consumers how easy and healthy it is to include rice in their daily diet, as well as the infinite cooking possibilities because of its versatility. During the events, a chef prepares an easy-to-cook recipe and communicates to shoppers the benefits of rice consumption. These activities have a significant impact on purchase decisions since there’s an engagement right at the moment of decision-making.

Due to this strategy, the Consume Arroz USA campaign achieved amazing results in San Salvador. Being the country’s most populous city, San Salvador represents a key market for changing consumption behavior and accomplishing the expected results. After a month of activities, USRPA registered up to a 33 percent increase in rice sales during days of promotion.

Likewise, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula were selected as the markets to implement promotional activities, since they’re the cities with higher population density in Honduras. By performing a communication and sampling strategy at the rice aisle in retail stores, the campaign delivered a 29 percent increase in sales, impacting more than 4,000 consumers in total. US Rice Producers Association will continue to develop marketing programs, aiming to position U.S. rice as an essential element in families’ diets throughout Latin America. The success achieved in El Salvador and Honduras is proof of the effectiveness of the programs implemented by the organization. More news and success stories to come!

Excellent news to report this week on the trade front with Iraq! There has been legitimate progress from the government on behalf of the U.S. rice industry to help reopen trade for the coming marketing year. It is an honest treat to report something positive coming from government intervention, and having access to the Iraqi market certainly qualifies. Because the U.S. crop supply was dwindling when the problem initially emerged in the late spring, the alarm bells weren’t going off. However, steady work from private industry and government partners has found purchase just in time to book business as harvest gets underway. This has been a complicated process that involves the U.S. Treasury Department putting sanctions on the bank that finances Iraq’s food purchasing arm. The sanctions were imposed because of the Iraqi bank’s ties to Iran and terrorist organizations. Rice was caught in the crossfire, but the consistent effort has resulted in opening back up the second-largest milled market for U.S. long grain once again.   If you have been following the Rice Advocate in recent weeks, resolving the problems in Iraqi purchases has been front and center in the face of the large U.S. crop that is just getting harvested. Louisiana is reported to be 34% complete, with Texas as 16%. No other states have started yet. The crop continues to look significantly better than last year, with 80% in the Good to Excellent conditions whereas last year it was only 71%. Missouri is reported at only 64% headed and California is trailing at 55%. All other states are reporting over 80% headed and harvest beginning in the coming weeks.   Early indications on the ground from Louisiana are showing milling yields that are looking better than last year. We can’t put too much weight on these yet, but with head rice in the low 60s and total in the high 60s for the early rice, the optimism is holding strong. Even the early harvest in Arkansas has several folks thinking the field yields will be up, but most are cautious to make any predictions on milling yields.   In Asia, the market hasn’t changed much in the past few weeks. Prices have hovered in Thailand and Vietnam in the $575-$580 pmt range. There continues to be chatter about when and how India will release or relax its export ban, so the imminent glut of rice is a concern that is keeping many traders up at night.   The news of Iraq truly carries the day in this report, as it has been one of the biggest weights on pricing expectations for the coming U.S. crop. Not only will the industry benefit from the needed demand, but the mills will keep busy churning through paddy and be able to avoid dropping the price in other markets to generate business to get the mills running.   The weekly USDA Export Sales report shows net sales of 19,300 MT reported for the 2024/2025 marketing year, which began August 1. A total of 214,900 MT in sales were carried over from the 2023/2024 marketing year, which ended July 31. Exports for the period ending July 31, of 56,200 MT brought accumulated exports to 3,313,100 MT, up 79% from the prior year’s total of 1,848,700 MT.

Learn More

USRPA staff members Iris Figueroa and Trey Barker visited with producers and friends of the industry at the annual University of Arkansas Rice Field Day in Stuttgart, Arkansas yesterday. As expected, it was a well-attended event, including 39 farmers and consultants from ProArroz in Argentina who are currently touring the U.S. Delta.

The two field tours provided to the attendees included Rice Breeding Updates, Rice Insect Management, Agronomy, Pathology, Weed Control in Rice, Germplasm Evaluation and Disease Resistance and Drones and Remote Sensing.

Trey Barker and Iris Figueroa welcome Hugo Carlos Muller, President of Foundation ProArroz of Argentina during the Arkansas field day. Mr. Muller along with Alberto Livore (research specialist for ProArroz) led a group of 39 farmers and consultants on a tour of the U.S. rice delta. The USRPA appreciates the relationship with ProArroz that was established some 20 years ago and we look forward to seeing them at the 2025 RMTC in Miami, Florida.

H-E-B revealed the top 10 finalists in its 11th annual Quest for Texas Best contest, which aims to discover the finest Texas-made products. These small businesses will compete with other Texas-based entrepreneurs for $70,000 in cash rewards and an opportunity to have their products showcased on H-E-B's shelves. "I am so excited to announce our Honestly Texas Rice was selected for HEB’s 11th Annual Quest for Texas Best competition. Out of 470 entries Honestly Texas Rice was selected as one of the top 10 Texas best products!" Pam West, Business Manager of Texas Rice Milling (home of Honestly Texas Rice), shared on social media regarding the news. "We are busy preparing for the finals to be held in August! We are blessed to be included with nine other fantastic entries! Wish us luck & cheers to the Texas Rice Farmers. Connecting the Texas Farmer to consumers with our Honestly Texas Rice in the most transparent way is our mission. Thank you for choosing Honestly Texas Rice. We love H-E-B! 'From our Farmers to your Family.'” Honestly Texas Rice is proudly grown in Texas using the most innovative technology. Texas farmers are committed to honesty and transparency, allowing you to make the best choice for your family.

Appropriations Update

On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee met to mark up four of its funding bills for fiscal year 2025 before members head home for August recess. With this markup completed, the Committee has successfully marked up 11 of the 12 appropriations bills on a largely bipartisan basis. The Committee had originally planned to mark up the final bill—Homeland Security—this week but this was pulled from the schedule on Monday. As of current, it does not appear that the full chamber will take up any appropriations bill for consideration and will instead shift focus to conferencing with the House.

In the House, the House Appropriations Committee successfully marked up all twelve of its bills. While the House had planned on voting on all 12 bills on the House floor, it has only passed five to date. One additional bill— Legislative Branch — was considered but failed on passage. The six remaining bills, including Agriculture, were scheduled to be considered by the whole chamber, but each was pulled from the schedule due to concerns over insufficient support. It seems unlikely that any of these bills will receive floor consideration.

Both the House and Senate have now recessed for August. Both are currently expected to return to session on September 9, where passing a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown is expected to be a top priority. The Senate agriculture appropriations bill can be found here and its accompanying report here. The House agriculture appropriations bill can be found here and its accompanying report here.

USDA Announces Investment to Support Western Producers from Drought

On Thursday, Secretary Vilsack announced USDA will invest $400 million to support at least 18 irrigation districts across the western United States. This funding aims to help farmers maintain commodity production while conserving water through innovative technologies and practices. The selected irrigation districts will work with producers to implement water-saving strategies, with up to $15 million potentially awarded to each district; districts will enter into sub-agreements with producers in their footprint. Participating producers will receive payments for reducing their water consumption while continuing to produce commodities on their land. Specific producer needs will guide which strategies are implemented to reduce water consumption, including irrigation improvements, shifts in management practices, and shifts in cropping systems, among other strategies. The initiative is expected to save up to 50,000 acre-feet of water across 250,000 acres of irrigated land. Eighteen irrigation districts in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming were originally selected to participate; however, additional districts may be selected in the future if there is available funding.

Last week, we gave a flyover view of the market factors coming into harvest. Those consisted of a large U.S. crop, a strong U.S. dollar, political unrest in our biggest milled markets, a glut of rice in India that could be released, and the potential for an above-average South American crop. That being said, there is room for optimism in the market too. Paddy exports have been strong and look to remain so as soon as new supply is harvested and released into the market. The potential for a much higher quality crop is the real story though. Optimistic sentiments from the ground confirm the USDA reports, particularly in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri. Rice progress and quality continue to blast through last year’s numbers and the 5-year averages. Last year, Arkansas was only 54% headed compared to this week at 75%. California has caught up and surpassed last year because of the heat, now recording 45% headed which is 10% above the 5-year average. The only state that is behind last year and the 5-year average is Louisiana. The quality continues to generate excitement, with 83% of the crop being reported Good or Excellent, compared to last year with only 71%. This year, 14% is reported as Fair, compared to last year at 24%. Poor and Very Poor remain negligible. We can only hope these reports translate into high field yields and milling yields. Any trouble on the ground still lies with the damage done in Texas by Hurricane Beryl, and persistent rains in Louisiana that are having a slight impact on the early harvest. The hope is that the weather will clear up and turn favorable when Louisiana gets into the bulk of its harvest season. In Asia, prices remain flat both in Vietnam and Thailand. Viet prices are holding at $580 pmt, while Thai prices are closer to $575 pmt. There are no big swings in either direction as demand has been relatively constant with no big swings in the last week; however, the potential of India opening up stocks in some capacity is ominously looming over any upward price pressure. The expectation for India is that they would have some sort of limited private sale, but is more likely to facilitate a G2G deal with a large Asian buyer instead of the normal West African buyers it has been working with. While the weekly USDA Export Sales report hit a dismal marketing year low of only 45,300 MT this week, it's important to remember how much more rice we have exported this year than last year. Through April, we have exported nearly 1.5 MMT to our top 10 export partners, compared to only 881 TMT last year. That’s almost a 70% increase! Mexico is our top partner, followed by Venezuela and then Haiti. So while export sales are slow at the moment, we have had a stellar first half of the year when compared to the same time last year.