ZOOM – The USA Rice World Market Price (WMP) Subcommittee held its final meeting of 2024 via Zoom this week, convening to discuss supply and demand, export sales, field yield estimates, and milling quality. Subcommittee members generally agreed that USDA field yield projections were similar to what was being reported by producers, with some states such as Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas suggesting yields may be slightly higher, and members from Louisiana stating that yields will likely be lower than what USDA has projected. On export sales, the subcommittee suggested USDA’s projections were accurate but will likely level off for both long and medium grain exports, depending on developments in Iraq and Haiti.
Following the meeting, subcommittee members and USA Rice staff met with teams from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Economic Research Service (ERS), and World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) departments. Keith Glover, WMP chair provided feedback on behalf of the industry on NASS statistics, pointing out the areas where subcommittee members thought a data review was warranted. These discussions are mutually beneficial to both the USDA and the rice industry in putting together a complete and accurate picture of the state of the industry throughout the year.
“The October World Market Price meeting offers the opportunity to review the new year’s crop and market opportunities with our USDA partners,” said Glover. “This year we shared that the industry expects a second consecutive strong year, with large crops in both California and the mid-South available for export and domestic consumption.”
To finish off the day, the subcommittee received market updates from staff from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). FAS staff provided updates for export markets including Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Haiti, and Iraq, and reviewed the global rice situation for 2024-2025.