USA Rice Focuses on State-Owned Enterprises to Break Political Frictions Impeding Exports

XIAMEN, CHINA – USA Rice was invited to attend the Xiamen Grain Association (XGA) quarterly board meeting on February 22, 2022.  XGA was established in 2000 and consists of 150 members from the Chinese grains, oils, and feed industries covering trading, processing, storage, logistics, and research.

“The main purpose of the trip was to establish relationships with new contacts, especially from state-owned companies, who import rice and rice products,” said Jim Guinn, USA Rice director of Asia promotion programs.  “We’re building awareness of the high quality, safety, and reliable supply of U.S. rice, and collecting information on the prospect of developing the U.S. rice business in China.”
 
At the meeting, a video of Nathan Childs, an agricultural economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was shown in which he talked about global rice production and use projections in 2021/2; and USA Rice gave presentations on the U.S. rice industry and current Chinese consumer research findings, and showed a U.S. rice farm and mill tour video.

Staff engaged in informal discussions with three state-owned companies and four private companies.  Of the three state-owned companies, only one is involved in table rice imports; the other two focus on broken rice and rice bran for the feed industry.  The table rice importer reportedly has a long grain quota of 30,000 MT, and requested samples of U.S. Calrose and other types of medium and long grain.  

Two of the private companies attended the 2019 reverse trade mission that brought Chinese rice importers to the U.S., one of whom, Xiamen Mingsui, imported the first shipment of U.S. rice to China in 2020.  

“Attendees expressed interest in visiting the U.S. rice industry when international travel becomes normalized and agreed that political trade frictions were one significant impediment to rice trade with China,” said Guinn.  “China imports soybeans, corn, and wheat because of short domestic supply but is fully self-sufficient in rice production.  Rice imports are typically driven by diversifying varieties of rice as well as broken rice used in animal feed.”

Xiamen is a key port for imported rice.  USA Rice is planning a second trade workshop in Xiamen later in 2022 to update the global rice market outlook and highlight the sustainability and reliability of U.S. rice.  Trade workshops are also planned in Shenzhen, Nanjing, and Hangzhou in the next two months.