USRPA participated at the Eagle Lake Field Day held by Texas A&M AgriLife. The program included rice research updates by professors, as well as policy updates. Prior to the Field Day, Texas Rice Producers had its board meeting. Texas Rice Research Foundation and Texas Rice Council were present at the meeting.
House Committee on Agriculture Launches Agriculture Labor Working Group
Last week, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) announced a 14-member, bipartisan working group to address issues in the agriculture workforce, particularly reforms to the H-2A visa program. The group will be co-chaired by Reps. Rick Crawford (R-AR) and Don Davis (D-NC) and is composed of members of the Committee whose districts are especially impacted by workforce challenges. The group will begin considering solutions after the July 4th recess and will produce an interim and final report on its conclusions, as well as producing legislative recommendations. The Agriculture Committee does not have jurisdiction over immigration; however, several members of the group are also on the Judiciary Committee, which does have jurisdiction over the issue.
USDA to Use CCC to Fund Food Procurement and Fertilizer Production
On Friday, USDA announced $2.7 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funding for food procurement and fertilizer production projects. $1.3 billion will be awarded to states for school meal purchasing of domestic commodities and to address high food and labor costs. $1 billion will be awarded to states to procure commodities for emergency food providers, such as food banks. $400 million will be awarded for grants to support expanding domestic fertilizer production capacity through the Fertilizer Product Expansion Program.
| The crop is marching along nicely with all states now showing rice headed. Louisiana leads the way with 33% headed, followed by Texas at 25%, then Mississippi at 17%, California (oddly) at 10%, Arkansas at 3%, and Missouri at 2%. Overall, that puts the average at 11%, which is surprisingly 3% higher than the five-year average. The crop condition does provide some food for thought as the week's tick by, as just over a quarter of the entire crop is showing in only Fair condition. Louisiana is registering 57% in the Good or Excellent categories, with 41% as only Fair. Mississippi shows 60% Good or Excellent, with 35% as Fair. Arkansas is looking a bit more normal, with 67% Good or Excellent, and 27% as Fair, but 6% in the Poor and Very Poor categories. California is showing 95% Good or Excellent, with 5% Fair. This would indicate that the crop in Louisiana may have some catching up to do by way of quality and that overall, we would like to see more than 75% of the crop in Good to Excellent condition in the coming weeks. The rebound in acres has been a solid change for the industry this year; it would do well to follow up with a quality crop with high milling yields as well. The intense heat and high night temperatures in Texas and parts of Louisiana have farmers worried about its effect on milling yields and overall quality. Today’s USDA acreage report to be released at 12:00 pm ET will be of interest to farmers, the trade in general, and the foreign marketplace. In trade for the Western Hemisphere, the Panama tender is the big news, and perhaps a bellwether for what the coming crop year may look like for the U.S. exporters. As we have mentioned, Uruguay is the only likely supplier on account of no rice in the U.S., and a shortage from other South American origins as well. We know that price convergence is a must, and that means prices will likely elevate in South America due to weather-related shortages, and prices in North America will drop due to increased crop size. Ideally, the upward pressure on the price we are seeing in the Eastern Hemisphere as well will prevent any more Pakistani or Vietnamese rice from finding its way to the West. Production shortages in Ecuador and Peru contribute to market complications. In Asia, prices continue to firm with another increase this week. Thailand is now as high as $525 pmt, which is a 20% increase year over year. Vietnam is up to $510 pmt, compared to prices at $415 pmt a year ago, registering a 19% increase from this time last year. This makes sense when you see that Indian prices are now as high as $465 pmt after their partial export ban and tariffs, as before those were imposed, prices were only $340 pmt a year ago for the world’s largest exporter. The price bump we are seeing in Thailand and Vietnam is partly on account of currency fluctuations, partly from strong demand, and partly on concern about early monsoon rains in India that could have an impact on their exports in the coming days. The weekly USDA export sales report offered some good news with net sales of 19,500 MT, up 47% from the previous week and 54% from the prior 4-week average. Increases were primarily for Haiti, Canada, and Mexico. Exports of 33,500 MT were down 25% from the previous week and 30% from the prior 4-week average. The futures market took a hit this week, as the larger crop is finally taking its toll on pricing expectations. The Sep 23 contract is down 4.95% to $14.960, followed by the Nov 23 contract down 3.97% to $15.125. Average daily volume dropped 23% to 905, while open interest stayed relatively flat with only a 2% drop to 8,838. |
 |
In This Issue:
Here are some of the speakers that represented the best industry leaders from throughout the Western Hemisphere at RMTC 2023. Who was your favorite and who would you like to hear from in RMTC 2024?
| WASHINGTON, June 21, 2023 - Agricultural producers who have not yet completed their crop acreage reports after planting should make an appointment with their local U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) office before the applicable deadline, which for many places and crops is July 17. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) also reminds producers with login access to farmers.gov of several features that can help expedite acreage reporting, such as the ability to view, print and label maps. |
The week of June 7, USRPA Chief Operating Officer Mollie Buckler traveled to San Jose, Costa Rica for “Cooperator Day” during the USDA/FAS Western Hemisphere Regional Conference. Prior to the event, Buckler met with Antonio Martinez, who represents the four largest rice mills in Costa Rica.
Cooperator Day began with a morning of sessions and dialogue between cooperators and FAS staff from posts throughout the Western Hemisphere. Buckler served on one of the panels titled, “What do Cooperators Want Posts to Know?” The afternoon consisted of “speed dating” meetings with FAS posts. USRPA had a full schedule, meeting with staff from FAS posts in Mexico, Chile, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic. Discussions included the market of each country, upcoming event opportunities such as ATMs or trade shows, possible locations for the 2024 Rice Market & Technology Convention, and promotional activity brainstorming.
Thanks to the FAS Staff for a productive and educational event.
Senate Appropriations Committee marks up Ag Appropriations Bill
On Thursday, the full Senate Committee on Appropriations marked up the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration appropriations bill for fiscal year 2024. In a brief discussion, the committee unanimously voted to approve both this bill and the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs funding bills. It will now head to Senate floor to be considered by the entire chamber. A recording of the markup can be found here. This markup follows last week’s House markup, which was a much longer and more contentious discussion.
| The market remains steady with exports into Haiti and resilient domestic business. There is a “hurry up and wait” stance as the crop grows, as there doesn’t appear to be much reason for price movements until then. In that vein, price discovery for new crops has been very limited in Texas, Louisiana, and the mid-south, with little old-crop paddy supplies to trade as well. Of note, rice in Louisiana is now approaching 30% headed, with Texas approaching 20%. The balance of the states continues to proceed nicely. The slow export situation is now old and/or common news, but an update on the Bud Light situation is at hand because of its impact on the domestic market. The negative response to the brand has been nothing short of astounding from a business and marketing perspective; it is something that will be studied for years to come by aspiring business majors, consultants, and MBAs. This is important to rice farmers because Anheuser-Busch is the single largest domestic buyer of rice, and if they stop selling beer, they stop buying rice. In the last week, it was reported that Bud Light’s sales have dropped a staggering 25%, and Budweiser sales have dropped 9%. This is a significant enough drop to remove Bud Light as America’s top beer brand, and it has been replaced by Modelo Especial. While we’re not here to talk about beer, the dilemma remains for rice farmers — boycotting for moral reasons has an impact on the producer. As mentioned above, the resilient domestic market has been the counterweight to the slow exports this year, with one of its core pillars being Anheuser-Busch. With a full crop coming, we need that pillar to remain strong. Full crop meaning, harvested, dried, and stored! In Asia, prices are still inching upward with Thailand and Vietnam both at $505 pmt, up from $500 last week. For Thailand, it’s important to note that Iraq is approaching 1 million metric tons of exports from this origin at a significant discount to its purchases from the US. The key takeaway here is a big “thank-you” to Iraq for holding to its MOU to buy U.S. long-grain rice. In Vietnam, steady demand and prepping for El Niño have kept exports and prices high. If India maintains its export ban and Thai and Viet prices continue to rise, there’s a possibility that the U.S. could attract more rice from Iraq and even some African countries next year as prices converge. There will have to be significant price movements on both sides of the globe for this to happen — but stranger things have happened. Looking at exports, it is interesting to note that Colombia currently holds the top spot for exports from the United States, registering just over 96 TMT. This reinforces the value of the Colombian TRQ to the U.S. rice market complex. The “usual suspect” for the top exporter is Mexico, which is now in second place through the first quarter at 93 TMT. The third top export market is Haiti at almost 85 TMT. Overall, 1st quarter exports have decreased 12% this year; a total of 785 TMT registered for Q1 2022, and a total of 690 TMT for Q1 2023. Weather interruption has caused production shortages in several markets in the Western Hemisphere, particularly Ecuador and Peru. Ecuador, normally a self-sufficient market, is looking to import a few thousand tons from its neighbor Colombia, but estimates indicate a shortage of 60,000 to 100,000 tons paddy basis. Frequent meetings between the Ministry of Agriculture, mills, and producers are ongoing. Peru has been buying some containers of milled rice from Uruguay of specific varieties. Also, Panama is expected to tender in a few days for 68,000 tons of paddy for delivery by August 31. While Brazil does not have a phytosanitary agreement with Panama for paddy rice and the U.S. harvest isn’t far enough along, this leaves Uruguay as the origin. Both Argentina and Paraguay are not in a position to offer either. This news and current market comments are causing prices to edge up in Mercosur. |
 |
In This Issue:
25722 Kingsland Blvd., Ste. 203, Katy, Texas 77494
Phone: 713-974-7423
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 with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of information (such as Braille, large print, American sign language, language translation, etc.) should contact USRPA at 713-974-7423. EEO.
