US: Rice planting begins, acres expected to decline

The cash market continued to erode as prices in Arkansas moved $0.50 per cwt lower this week. The story was similar in other states where lack of bids or demand led to prices softening. Texas paddy held steady, but mainly because that market operates based on its own fundamentals, which at this point imply moderate demand and scarce supplies moving into planting. As reported last week, higher prices are required in the immediate future to bolster long-grain acres, and that doesn’t appear to be happening. As a result, we still expect to see substantial rice acres move into beans and corn this spring. This is a market that has several factors indicating reasons for prices to move upward but also reasons to soften. Mercosur harvest, quality issues, demand from Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, etc will continue to be monitored. Rice farmers in South Louisiana and Texas are in the field as new crop planting is underway this week while farther north in the delta fields are in full ...