Houston, Texas, USA
February 4, 2014

Identity-preserved hybrid rice grain is making an impact on sales into the United States’ largest export market via the new South Louisiana Rail Facility in Lacassine.

“The quality of the hybrid rice is on par with varieties and has been met with favorable response among mills located in Mexico,” said South Louisiana rice farmer Mark Pousson.

“We recently shipped a 45-car order to Mexico that had a composite grade from FGIS of 63/72 #2,” Pousson said. “A fair amount of the order included hybrids, and the customer noted that this was the best rice they had received since 2009.”
“Composite milling grades were running between 59/70 up to 67/73 on the first 125 rail cars,” said Pousson.

Quality continues to be a major focus of the U.S. rice industry. Extreme weather over the past three years has affected the quality of all U.S. rice. Most experts would agree that 2013 brought favorable weather conditions across the South, which resulted in improved milling yields and quality.

“We are hearing reports from rice mills across Latin America that the grain quality in recent shipments is much improved over those of the past few years,” said Brian Ottis, marketing and client support manager for RiceTec.

Ottis indicated that one of the biggest complaints he’s heard is about the high price of brokens due to a lack of supply.

“With a hybrid rice market share of approximately 50%, and the positive comments coming from our export partners about the 2013 crop, it’s apparent that the quality concerns of the prior three years were not a function of the increasing amount of hybrid rice,” said Ottis.

RiceTec remains committed to working with the U.S. rice industry on improving our rice and understanding the factors that impact quality.

About RiceTec Inc.
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, RiceTec Inc. has been developing hybrid rice seed since 1988, offering the first commercial hybrid rice seed product in 1999. RiceTec was founded on the premise that modern, technology-based breeding techniques – combined with a broad, diverse germplasm collection – allow for efficient development and economical production of superior hybrid seed products, as well as specialty rice for consumer markets. RiceTec also has research centers in Harrisburg, Ark., and at off-season locations in Puerto Rico, which allows the company to grow and test rice year-round. RiceTec is the only rice seed company with a technical service team on-call throughout the growing season to answer questions and make recommendations to help growers maximize the performance of their hybrid rice crops.

Website: http://www.ricetec.com

Published: February 5, 2014