Reputation for quality
Nov 17, 2015
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward and Regional Director Hartwig Schmidt recently conducted trade visits here to update the UK rice trade on the current U.S. rice supply situation.
Approximately 90 percent of U.S. long grain rice sales here service the ethnic sector, but there is increasing competition from European and Thai origins, based on price.
“We’re also now seeing basmati prices dropping enough that consumers are sometimes willing to give it a try in place of U.S. long grain,” Ward said after meeting with major retailers. “The good news is that we have an unparalleled reputation for quality, consistency, food safety, and sustainability. The task at hand will be doing more to promote these facts to consumers.”
Ward said USA Rice conducts several promotional activities in the ethnic sector throughout the year here and that importers of U.S. rice she met with offered valuable suggestions on additional promotions that should be considered to increase U.S. rice sales.
Meetings with rice buyers in the industrial sector revealed the potential for reintroducing U.S. rice to this high volume market segment, who remember and appreciate the consistency and high quality of U.S. long grain rice.
It is through regular trade servicing and promotional activities that USA Rice, in cooperation with the UK trade, will get U.S. rice back on the retail shelves beyond just the ethnic markets. In spite of the tough competition, U.S. long grain rice sales more than doubled as compared to last year, reaching over 18,000 MT in the period January-September 2015.