Post-Harvest Market Update

Harvest has wrapped up – what does that mean for the market? We sat down with Mark Holt, Vice President of Sales & Marketing to find out!

Harvest Wrap-Up

The 2022 rice crop for our growers was small and of good quality, as expected. We now know the inventory available to us through the rest of the marketing year.

Demand continues to be high, accelerated by external factors.

Supply

For price stability, supply will need to balance with demand.

“The South American crop will be harvested in February and March, so that will add to the global supply. Until then, we are going to remain in a very tight situation with stocks. Pricing has reflected that,” Holt said of the situation.

There are no obvious short-term solutions for supply concerns. Planting intentions for the 2023 crop year could be a long-term solution.

Logistics

Recent railroad negotiations have reached a conclusion. The inability to ratify agreements with all rail unions brought concerns of a strike.
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A rail strike could have cost the economy an estimated $2 billion per day.

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Legislation has been signed into law, representing more than 100,000 employees. What could have been detrimental to our customers, has been avoided.

Throughout harvest, record-low water levels made the Mississippi River ineffective for moving goods.

Nearly 60% of all grain exported from the United States is transported on the Mississippi River.

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Increased rain in the Midsouth has helped alleviate the situation. “Now that the river is flowing again, demand is pent up. We are seeing a lot of barges moving, which will once again tighten supply,” Holt explained.

Riceland Update

Several months ago, we had a fire in the CCF dryer. We are happy to announce we are now back to full production.

“We are still learning how this new equipment will interact. We will know our full production capabilities in the coming days and weeks,” Holt expressed.

Conclusion

Now that harvest is complete, we can focus on inventory available for the second half of our marketing year.

Recent rail negotiations and increased rainfall have averted serious logistic concerns.

Riceland is now at full production following a production fire.

Despite these factors, Riceland remains well-positioned for production and our consumers.