Arkansas sets sights on China rice trade

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Arkansas rice farmers are hopeful that negotiations in China could open the door to a new line of exports.

Greg Yielding, executive director of the Arkansas Rice Growers Association, said the possibility of the U.S. exporting rice to China is expected to top the agenda during negotiations in Shanghai on Monday and Tuesday between officials from U.S. and Chinese food-inspection agencies.

Arkansas farmers, who lead the U.S. in rice production, could tap a niche market in a huge and expanding economy in the country of 1.3 billion people.

Yielding said Friday that U.S. agricultural officials believe there is no reason the Chinese should not open up the market.

In May, the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service outlined safety protocols at the request of the Chinese government, said Jim Guinn, vice president of international promotion for the Arlington, Va.-based USA Rice Federation.

Guinn said the Chinese could allow the importation of U.S. rice by the end of 2009.

During a visit to Shanghai in June, Yielding surveyed Chinese consumers in grocery stores about various rice varieties. He said 79 percent of respondents liked the medium-grain variety and 84 percent liked the long-grain variety. Arkansas primarily grows long-grain, but it also grows medium-grain and aromatic rice varieties.

"Anything that is from the U.S. is perceived to be better and of higher quality, and they're willing to pay more for it," Yielding said.

Growers and millers are hoping to tap into a market among a growing, highly educated middle class with a taste for American goods that is emerging in China's cities.

In 2008, the United States exported $11.9 billion in feed and grains to China — but not rice, according to the Foreign Agriculture Service.

Arkansas' rice sales totaled $918.1 million in 2008, according to the Agriculture Departments Economic Research Service.

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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com

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