US rice crop looks good, if not excellent

(By Dwight Roberts, USRPA) The summer months brought no excitement to the U.S. milled rice market. Things continue to go as expected, although perhaps not as expected. We can say with certainty that two months ago we would have expected that there was already a solution to Iraq's banking problem that prohibited them from buying more rice from the US. We would have hoped that, by some miracle, Haiti would have overcome its tragedy and emerged with a stable government and solid demand for rice. But we all know that diplomatic solutions are never quick or easy, and so we prevail in seeking strong export markets and improving our internal relations. Harvest conditions remain significantly better than last year, which is excellent news. This year, 64% of the harvest looks good compared to 57% at this time last year, another 17% is rated excellent compared to 16% last year. And only 16% of the harvest is registered as fair this week, compared to 22% last year. This trend continues to ...