USA Rice hosts professional chef competitions in Japan to promote U.S. rice
Nov 18, 2022
TOKYO, JAPAN – This week, a delegation of U.S. rice exporters visited Japan to meet with rice importers and U.S. government officials to discuss the 2022 U.S. rice supply and demand situation.
The meetings provided an opportunity to follow-up on issues raised during the 2022 U.S.-Japan Technical Meeting, held in Sacramento in August, which centered around the historically low 2022 production of U.S. medium grain resulting from California’s prolonged drought. For many Japanese importers, this was the first face-to-face encounter with U.S. exporters since 2019, and so a number of business-to-business meetings were held on the sidelines of the delegation meetings.
“We were glad to be back on the ground in Japan to reassure our customers of the importance of their market and to provide updates on our 2022 supply and demand situation in California and the rest of the U.S.,” said Michael Rue, California rice farmer and chair of the USA Rice Asia Trade Policy Subcommittee who attended the meetings. “Now that we’ve concluded harvest and have a sense of what our total supply looks like for the coming year, both sides can better manage expectations regarding exports to Japan for their 2022 fiscal year, which concludes at the end of March 2023.”
The delegation also discussed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s country-wide promotions for all products and USA Rice promotions in Japan.
“We have been conducting successful promotions in Japan for decades to support incorporation of U.S. rice in a market where domestic rice holds such a premium,” said Chris Crutchfield, California rice miller and chair of the USA Rice Asia, Turkey Promotion Subcommittee who also attended. “With less U.S. rice available in the Japanese market in the short-term, we are looking at innovative approaches to maintain our customer base in Japan through a new array of promotions in 2023.”
Fortunately, the outlook on shipments to Japan this fiscal year has improved since the industry meeting last August.
“It was important that we were able to convey the nuances of the supply situation in person and ensure that we continue to maintain our strong relationship with the U.S. Embassy personnel that work on our behalf day-to-day,” said Rue.
Japan has long been the top export market for U.S. medium grain rice and consistently ranks as the third largest market for total U.S. rice exports by volume and second largest market for total U.S. exports by value. Over the last ten calendar years, U.S. rice exports to Japan have averaged 314,805 metric tons, valued at $243 million on an annual basis.