Overview
Rice is produced worldwide and is the primary staple for more than half the world's population. In the United States, rice farming is a high-cost, high-yielding, large-scale production sector that depends on the global market for almost half its annual sales. Domestically, per capita rice consumption—including
rice used in beer—has risen sharply over the past 25 years. ERS analyzes events in the domestic and global rice markets that influence supply, demand, trade, and prices.
Feature
Rice
Outlook (monthly) provides updates on current market
developments and their influence on the rice sector, with
data on production, consumption, prices, and trade.
Factors
Behind the Rise in Global Rice Prices in 2008 (May
2009) examines factors underlying the high prices seen
during November 2007 to April 2008. The price increase
was not due to crop failure or a particularly tight global
rice supply situation. Instead, trade restrictions by
major suppliers, panic buying by several large importers,
a weak U.S. dollar, and record oil prices were the immediate
cause of the rise in rice prices.
Rice Backgrounder
(December 2006) reports that U.S. rice farming is a high-cost, large-scale
operation. While domestic disappearance continues to increase,
the outlook for rice farm incomes is tempered by higher
production costs and continued strong competition in many
international markets from lower cost Asian exporters.
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