GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Today, USA Rice joined private sector rice participants from Paraguay, Pakistan, and India at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to provide insights on the global market.
Today's event, organized by the U.S. Mission, was held on the margins of the WTO Committee on Agriculture meeting where the U.S. co-sponsored counter notification on Indian rice support was discussed (see
USA Rice Daily, March 16, 2026). U.S. Ambassador Joseph Barloon provided opening remarks followed by a global market outlook presentation by Shirley Mustafa, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) rice analyst and moderator of the panel discussion.
WTO members in attendance then heard similar market realities in the U.S., Pakistan, and Paraguay as a result of India's increased and sustained subsidies and market price distortions.
"Today our farmers are suffering from significantly increased input and operating costs, but nothing compares to the hurt felt from the artificially depressed prices from subsidy-driven exports," said Karah Janevicius, USA Rice director of international trade policy, who was on the panel representing the United States.
Panelists shed light on the importance of the WTO rules and explained how systemic non-compliance is deteriorating market predictability.
Janevicius continued, "Our goal today is to bring exposure of market realities to the policy discussion in hopes of improving the understanding of the impacts and to hopefully make baby steps in moving the agricultural negotiations forward."
Panelists from the U.S., Paraguay, and Pakistan all cited India’s subsidies as the driver behind profit loss across rice farms throughout the world. They all alluded to needing to break even or turn a profit growing rice or it no longer becomes a sustainable option.
Today’s WTO side-event was the first commodity-specific panel of its kind.