Southern U.S. rice farmers were cautioned to focus more on rice quality as the industry seeks to expand market share in Latin America and elsewhere. The caveat to this is understanding the word “quality” from the perspective of customers in Central and South America.

Latin American customers don’t want sticky rice, according to Amilcar Ybarra Rojas, president, and CEO of Agricorp S.A., a rice marketer from Nicaragua. Neither do they want chalky rice.

Tim Walker, general manager of Horizon Ag, a Memphis-based rice company with deep connections to the U.S. Southern rice industry, said Latin American customers buy rice with their eyes: they look at it for its long grain, consistent grain length, and low chalkiness. Secondly, they don’t want it to clump together when cooked.

About 15 years ago the U.S. began to lose market share to South American competitors who were able to meet the higher quality demands of Latin American customers. Walker said the loss in market share does not appear to be one of price, but the stated lower quality of U.S. rice sold on commodity markets. South American rice producers from Brazil, Argentina, and elsewhere have capitalized on this quality issue, Walker said.

Market share

Walker interviewed Rojas during the general session of the annual USA Rice Outlook Conference, held earlier in December in California. In the discussion, Walker wanted Rojas to explain to rice industry leaders and growers why the U.S. lost its market share, and how the U.S. can get that back.

“People are looking for rice with better cooking quality that doesn’t stick together,” Rojas said.

Though critical of the U.S. rice industry’s apparent slow response to addressing rice quality efforts through breeding and agronomic practices, Rojas said that all is not lost for the United States. Market share to Nicaragua is improving, albeit slowly. While countries like Costa Rica have been more reluctant to being buying U.S. rice in quantities seen previously, Walker said the focus has been on Nicaragua.

Walker believes that where Nicaragua goes, so too will other Latin American countries when it comes to U.S. rice imports. It won’t happen overnight, he said, but the likelihood is there if U.S. farmers can produce the quality of rice Nicaragua wants, the remainder of Central and South American may follow.

For Rojas, rice quality reflects less on milling, and more on its amylose content. That is the starch content in rice that makes it fluffy or sticky when cooked. The higher the amylose content, the firmer and fluffier it is. Low amylose rice tends to be stickier and moister in texture. Consumer choice

Rojas said sticky or fluffy rice is a personal consumer choice, yet an important preference for U.S. farmers to understand if they are going to sell rice around the world.

“Is there hope for the United States to reverse the trend of declining market share in Nicaragua and other countries,” Walker asked of Rojas.

“Yes, of course,” he replied. “And you have partners like us that will help.”

Staple source

Rice remains a staple source of food for global consumers, but their taste in rice varies widely. U.S. farmers exported two million metric tons of rice, valued at $1.7 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service.

Nicaragua, where Agricorp is based, is a top-10 market for U.S. rice, valued at just under $50 million in annual sales. Japan is the leading destination for U.S. rice. Half of the industry’s 10 leading export destinations are in Latin America, according to FAS.

FAS Administrator Daniel Whitley told rice industry leaders at the USA Rice Outlook Conference in California that his agency exists to help rice farmers and other U.S. farmers to market their products abroad.

“We represent all of your interests around the world,” Whitley said to the general session audience of several hundred people at USA Rice. “We have a presence in roughly 165 countries around the world (with) trained experts in agriculture dedicated to catering to your interests and needs.”