USA: The rice harvest had a good start and sowing is approaching the end

(By Dwight Roberts, USRPA) With so little old-crop rice available on the spot market except in Arkansas, cash offers for the new harvest are beginning to emerge. Producer expectations are above $15/cwt at this stage of the game, or at least that is what they are signaling is needed to release any volume. Milled grain exports are significantly delayed as a result of a saturated Haitian market that cannot distribute what it has, and ongoing financial problems with Iraq. US long grain, 5% broken, is holding steady at $800 pmt, now some of the cheapest rice in the Western Hemisphere. Uruguay is at the same level at US$800 pmt, Argentina at US$840 pmt, and Brazil, in total chaos due to recent historic floods and crop losses, is above US$850 pmt. Fresh supplies will be welcome this year, as long as logistics don't degrade further. Earlier this week, the Brazilian government announced a tender for 300,000 tons from any source in the world, in an effort to maintain food security and price ...