USA Rice Federation and Costco Taiwan are working together on a promotion to sell U.S. long grain enriched rice grown in the southeast United States.

USA Rice director of Asia promotion programs Jim Guinn said the rice used in the promotion includes rice that was likely from Arkansas or Louisiana.

"It's definitely from somewhere in the South and best guess is it's either Arkansas or Louisiana or maybe a combination of the two," Guinn said.

Costco Taiwan is selling new packages of the U.S. grown rice as its Kirkland Signature house brand at all of the company's 14 warehouses across the island nation.

During the first phase of the promotion, there were sales of 200 packages that weigh 20 pounds each, Guinn said.

"In the first phase, they were able to taste just cooked rice, not a recipe per se, but in future promotions, we'll actually be creating recipes and cooking rice dishes that the consumers can taste in the Costco stores," Guinn said.

USA Rice has never worked with Costco Taiwan for this kind of rice promotion before, but has worked on similar promotions with Costco in South Korea and Japan.

"With Costco Japan, right now we're not doing any promotions, it's been California Calrose rice that's been going into that market, but with the high prices and the lack of availability of Calrose California rice in the market, we're no longer doing those promotions until after this year's harvest," Guinn said.

USA Rice has worked with Costco on rice promotions in Japan for three years and in South Korea for one year, Guinn said.

"And actually, in [South] Korea, we're not promoting rice per se, we're promoting a product that's made from U.S. rice flour, made from U.S. rice that was imported into South Korea and processed into flour," Guinn said, adding the promotion was in November.

"The product we're promoting there is actually a hotdog or a corndog product and the coating contains rice flour made from U.S. rice."

Taiwan has a history of buying U.S. grown medium grain rice but USA Rice began encouraging importers of American rice to buy long grain rice in 2020, which is now a more common purchase for importers, Guinn said.

USA Rice began marketing and promotional efforts, as well as educational events involving professional chefs, to promote U.S.-grown long grain rice last year.

Taiwan imports southern medium grain, long grain, long grain parboiled, long grain jasmine, short grain glutinous and Calrose rice from California; Taiwan imports a four-year annual average of 65,000 tons of U.S. grown rice worth $30 million, according to USA Rice.

Print Headline: Costco Taiwan promotes U.S. rice

MIDDLE EAST REGION – This year, the Holy Month of Ramadan lasts until April 20, or from one sighting of the crescent moon during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar until the next. Ramadan is observed by Muslims worldwide as a time of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. The common practice is to fast from dawn to sunset, when families and friends gather to break the fast with the Iftar meal featuring several traditional dishes where rice is a major ingredient.

“Not surprisingly, rice consumption increases in the few weeks before and during Ramadan, providing a great opportunity to boost awareness and sales of U.S.-grown rice in several Middle Eastern countries,” said Eszter Somogyi, USA Rice director of Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

In Saudi Arabia, promotions conducted in cooperation with a local U.S. rice brand launched earlier this month and incorporate digital advertising on “Shahid,” the largest online video streaming app for Arabic content. That is in addition to a four-week sponsorship of “Hayyakom,” a show broadcast on MBC FM, the most popular Saudi radio channel, and nearly a hundred billboards in five different cities including Mecca, Jizan, Najran, Abha, and Khamis Msheit. Messaging on the USA Rice social media platforms here are posting recipes, tips, and quizzes to maintain digital communication with faithful followers.

In Jordan, USA Rice teamed up with a local U.S. rice importer for an extensive outdoor media campaign that includes 147 billboards and 29 LED screens in Amman, the country’s capital, as well as the major cities of Zarqa, Jarash, and Irbid. This campaign also is well-supported by social media posts on the USA Rice Jordan-specific Facebook and Instagram accounts, boosted by Ramadan recipes shared by local influencer Chef Noura.

In the West Bank, USA Rice is working with three U.S. importers supporting their local U.S. rice brands with billboard and radio advertising in major cities, and in-store promotions that feature giveaway items like prayer calendars and cooking spoons.

“U.S.-origin rice is appreciated by Middle East consumers for its excellent quality and suitability for favorite dishes such as kabsah in Saudi Arabia or mansaff in Jordan and the West Bank,” said Somogyi. “Iftar is the meal eaten after sunset and is an important social happening so home cooks want to offer their families and guests special dishes prepared using the best ingredients. Our campaigns and promotions with local U.S. rice brands in this region help put U.S. rice in the center of the Iftar table.”

Jamison Cruce, Senior Director, Government Affairs at USA Rice details how the U.S. rice industry advocates for strong farm bill safety net programmes

The Farm Bill is a sweeping piece of U.S. law that touches every American and many others around the world. Approximately every five years, the U.S. Congress drafts and negotiates a bill consisting of many titles that span farm, nutrition, and rural policy.

There have been 18 U.S. Farm Bills since the 1930s. While early bills focused solely on supporting farmers, they have grown to include a myriad of programmes and support an expansive set of stakeholders. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, known informally as the 2018 Farm Bill, is the most recent to be signed into law and expires this year. The 2018 Bill has 12 titles: commodity, conservation, trade, nutrition, credit, rural development, research, forestry, energy, horticulture, crop insurance, and miscellaneous. This goes far beyond the scope of the early Farm Bills and more closely reflects the diverse constituencies of the U.S. Congress.

2018 Farm Bill provisions

For the U.S. rice industry and rice farmers at large, the 2018 Farm Bill delivered many successful provisions. The rice farmer’s primary and most important safety net, the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) Program, which provides assistance during times of depressed prices beyond a farmer’s control, was maintained and improved to be a better risk management tool for the modern-day family farm. While Federal crop insurance is a tool utilised by rice farmers, the safety net provided by the PLC Program is invaluable.

Working lands conservation programs, which help rice farmers remain at the forefront of being the best stewards of our land and natural resources, were prioritised and continued in true conservationist fashion allowing flexibility for local concerns to be addressed rather than a top-down, regulatory approach.

Other programmes important to the U.S. rice industry included trade promotion programmes, like the Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development Program, and international food aid assistance programmes, including Food for Peace, Food for Progress, and the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Programs.

Unforeseen challenges for farmers

However, while the 2018 Farm Bill was delivered for rice farmers at the time of passage, the implications of events beginning in 2020 and continuing today could not have been predicted. In March 2020 and throughout that summer, the COVID-19 pandemic led to high demand for rice and rice products. Conflated with supply chain challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, commodity markets were thrown for a loop. However, those supply chain challenges, including the domestic transportation of goods and exports, have persisted with an ongoing truck driver shortage, port congestion, and decreasing transportation reliability.

Further, natural disasters, including several hurricanes and wildfires, wreaked havoc on farmers, resulting in billions of dollars in losses in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, California experienced its third year of debilitating drought, which halved its rice production because of the regulatory nature of the state’s water allocations to farmers.

Stagnant prices across the rice industry

In the Mid-South and Gulf Coast, along with those able to plant rice in California, rice production input costs skyrocketed ahead of the 2022 planting season. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a major energy and fertilizer producer in the region, the cost to grow a rice crop in the U.S. became a looming and troublesome concern for farmers and the industry. At the same time, most agricultural commodity markets began to see steep market price increases as the uncertainty of Ukraine’s corn and wheat crops grew, as did Ukraine’s inability to export those crops.

One major outlier has endured – stagnant U.S. rice market prices. Competition for rice versus other crops that saw these drastic price increases, like corn and soybeans, meant that U.S. rice acres nationally dropped to the lowest in 40 years.

To add insult to injury, World Trade Organization (WTO) subsidy violations by India and others artificially depressed world rice market prices.

And an economic study published by the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University showed that two-thirds of U.S. rice farms would not be profitable in 2022.

Faced with these high production costs and stagnant prices, and contending with WTO violators, rice farmers had no alternative but to appeal to the U.S. government for ad hoc assistance ahead of the next Farm Bill reauthorisation. While rice farmers will receive modest assistance for the 2022 crop year, sound and meaningful U.S. farm policy will be key for the next five years as Congress writes the next Farm Bill. Over the past year, U.S. rice farmers have worked to develop policy recommendations to ensure the next Farm Bill delivers for the industry.

2023 Farm Bill priorities

As the key risk management tool and safety net for rice farmers, the U.S. rice industry believes that the PLC program must be bolstered. The reference price (the triggering mechanism that determines assistance), should be increased to reflect present-day rice farming conditions. The current rice reference price was established in the 2014 Farm Bill and based on the cost of production in 2012 – more than a decade ago.

In the face of climate change, rice farmers also need the ability to continue implementing practices and systems through working lands conservation programs, and they believe these should be prioritised over land retirement or set-aside programs, especially with potential global food shortages.

And while these are the key priorities for the U.S. rice industry going into the next Farm Bill, many other policies will be brought forward that will also need to be addressed.

Passing U.S. farm policy is always a daunting task, but the U.S. rice industry urges Congress to act this year so that rice farmers have all of the tools to best manage their operations. This will enable them to continue providing consumers in the U.S. and worldwide with a sustainable product that is grown under some of the highest environmental and labour standards anywhere.

Legislation urged to ease exports

USA Rice and industry leaders are seeking legislation to remove barriers to U.S. trade with Cuba to ease the way for U.S. rice exports to the island nation.

The groups are members of the U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba, a group that supports improving agricultural trade between the U.S. and Cuba.

"USA Rice wants a piecemeal approach to be taken both administratively and legislatively to ease current restrictions on trade, travel, financing, etc., so that Cuba can grow its economy and become a reliable commercial importer of U.S. rice once again," USA Rice's Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs Peter Bachmann said Monday.

"However, any legislative action that liberalizes the U.S.-Cuba relationship is seen as very contentious among a bipartisan group within Congress because of the political implications for South Florida and Miami, where there's a dense Cuban and Cuban-American population. This makes passage of legislation difficult with a Democrat majority in Congress and close to impossible with a Republican majority."

Bachmann noted President Joe Biden's administration has not prioritized relations with Cuba as President Barack Obama did.

"Regardless of whatever administrative actions are taken, congressional action to allow for financing and/or lifting of the embargo are necessary for normal commerce to resume," Bachmann said.

Major rice consumer Cuba was once a top market for U.S. rice exports, and Arkansas grows nearly half of all rice produced in the U.S.

Cuba now imports rice from Asian and South American countries, according to a recent USA Rice news release.

Cuba can currently buy U.S. rice legally if the importer pays in cash up front and uses a third-country bank, such as the Bank of Canada, as an intermediary to allow the exchange of any money, per the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancements Act of 2000.

The requested legislation would allow U.S. banks to directly provide financing for Cuban buyers and help U.S. exporters compete for better credit terms.

Cuba is facing increasing economic pressures brought on by the pandemic.

Cubans are experiencing shortages of food, energy, medicine and fuel, and recent protests spurred Biden to issue a statement about three weeks ago calling on the nation to respect the right to peaceful protest.

Cuba's economy is recovering gradually and should show growth this year, but the country's economy is still 7.3% below where it was in 2019, per a July 21 Reuters report.

The U.S. imposed an arms embargo against the country in 1958 in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro's rise to power and the establishment of a Socialist state in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy's administration imposed an all-encompassing trade embargo in 1962.

The U.S. trade embargo cannot be lifted without Congressional approval and remains in place today.

President George H.W. Bush increased U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, but offered a path to normalizing relations via significant political and economic reforms, according to the Council on Foreign relations, an independent nonpartisan think tank.

The U.S. embargo was further tightened and codified in 1996, penalizing foreign companies that do business with Cuba.

Obama eased restrictions on travel and remittances in 2009, in a move considered the most notable step toward normalizing relations with the country to date.

The Cuban government approved several economic reforms in 2011.

Obama and Raul Castro announced plans to restore full diplomatic ties after a prisoner exchange in 2015, though the Republican-controlled Congress at the time vowed to uphold the economic embargo.

In 2015, Gov. Asa Hutchinson called for Arkansas to position itself to export goods like rice and poultry to Cuba, as Congress considered ending the 50-year-old trade embargo with the nation. In 2016, Arkansas Rice Federation members traveled to Cuba to discuss the future of trade. Then, in 2017, President Donald Trump announced he would reinstate travel and business restrictions.In May, Biden eased Trump-era sanctions against Cuba, focusing on expanding travel and making it easier for families to visit relatives in the country.

The world's largest rice producer is hungry for more and looking to the U.S. for supplies.

China will import American rice for the first time after a new trade deal was agreed to Thursday.

"The agreement with China has been in the works for more than a decade and I'm pleased to see it finally come to fruition, especially knowing how greatly it will benefit our growers and industry," said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in a statement.

This resolution follows on the heels of a June 1resolution which removed the phytosanitary pest Tilletia horrida from Colombia’s official pest list. ICA conducted a study that found that tilletia horrida is already present in various locations in Colombia. The study, which collected 54 samples from farms and mills, found tilletia horrida in 92 percent of the collected samples.

Iraq Makes First Purchase of U.S. Rice under the U.S.-Iraq Memorandum of Understanding

Destination: Iraq

ARLINGTON, VA -- With help from a last minute, full-court press by USA Rice involving Congress, the U.S. Embassy, and high-level State Department and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials, Iraq made its first-ever purchase of U.S. rice under the U.S. – Iraq Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  This sale will help U.S. rice exporters gain a foothold in the Iraqi market, and heightens prospects for new sales in the future.   Iraq’s precedent-setting purchase of 30,000 MT of U.S. long grain milled rice comes after more than 16 months without any Iraqi purchases of U.S. rice.  “We are very pleased to see that Iraq has stepped up to meet its commitment to purchase U.S. rice under this agreement,” said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward.  “This could not have come at a better time for the U.S. rice industry, and we are grateful for the cooperation of the Iraqi Grain Board (IGB) and the Ministry of Trade (MOT), and are confident that this transaction will mean more Iraqi purchases of U.S. rice in the near future.”   The 30,000 MT sale for July delivery was awarded to ADM, and comes almost a full year since the MOU was negotiated between the MOT and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.   “The USA Rice team, including our local office in Iraq, worked hand-in-glove with Congress, the State Department, and USDA over the last year to keep the pressure on, ensuring that Iraq follows through on its commitment to purchase competitively-priced U.S. grown rice under this MOU,” said Hugh Maginnis, USA Rice vice president international.  “We appreciate the teamwork and persistence of so many people who contributed to this successful sale.  This gives our rice farmers a very welcome shot in the arm.”