The cold has ravaged much of Arkansas rice country, where the focus has been on industry meetings amid ongoing market uncertainty. While the plight of the U.S. rice industry has been well documented in this report and every other news article as of late, there are a few high points we can discuss. The first is that we are still awaiting confirmed results of what was the largest Colombian TRQ, optimistically projected at 140,000 metric tons. Second, there appears to be an increased consumer interest in our domestically growing fragrant jasmine varieties.  It has long been the case that domestic sales are being eaten away by Thai Jasmine imports, and the supply chain has finally caught up to answer consumer demand.  And lastly, a significant reduction in acres should result in a stabilized price for the coming year, though it is still too soon to know. We expect to be able to summarize planting intentions by state in the next few weeks. 

Prices in Asia held steady this week, this Thailand registering just below $400 pmt, Vietnam at $365 pmt, just barely above India at $360 pmt. It would appear that the skid has slowed, and all hope that perhaps we are scraping along the bottom. Prices in the West haven’t moved much either, with U.S. long grain milled still reporting at $575 pmt, and all other origins in South America reporting below $450 pmt. 

The weekly USDA Export Sales report shows net sales of 21,600 MT this week, down 64% from the previous week and 56% from the prior 4-week average. Increases primarily for Haiti (13,500 MT), Guam (10,300 MT, including 11,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 700 MT), Israel (3,000 MT), Mexico (1,500 MT, including decreases of 300 MT), and Albania (1,500 MT), were offset by reductions for unknown destinations (11,000 MT). Exports of 43,900 MT were down 47% from the previous week and 23% from the prior 4-week average. The destinations were primarily to Japan (13,700 MT), Guam (10,300 MT), Mexico (9,100 MT), Honduras (5,300 MT), and Taiwan (2,400 MT).