Rice Market: Domestic Usage Report Reflects Continued Impact of COVID-19

USA Rice released the annual U.S. Rice Domestic Usage Report (DUR) today, tracking domestic shipments and consumption of U.S. milled rice from August 2020 through July 2021.

This year’s report implements several new changes, including new import data using recently implemented import codes for jasmine and basmati rice, a recalculated annual domestic consumption, and reconfiguration of several graphs to make them more readable.

It also maintains changes instituted in 2017-18 that aligned the survey and data collection methods with industry standard reporting. These changes have provided better representation of the industry, and a more accurate picture of which types and how much rice is consumed in the U.S.

According to the report, U.S. rice mills shipped 106.1 million hundredweights (cwt) of rice to domestic and foreign markets, a decrease of 6.3 percent versus the 2019-20 market year. Overall, the report captures 64.6 million cwt of rice shipped domestically, a decrease of 5 percent compared to last year.

Of that, 60.4 percent is for direct food use and 39.6 percent for processed foods like pet food, beer, sake, and snacks. This distribution is very similar to that of 2019-20, indicating stable trends in domestic demand in these areas.

Rice News on AgFax Unable to display feed at this time.

The market year 2020-21 report continues to reflect the far-reaching market impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The retail segment grew an additional 13 percent to 12.2 million cwt, after an increase of 10.4 percent in 2019-20, as many people were forced to change their eating and shopping habits due to pandemic restrictions.

In contrast, shipments for mainline foodservice saw a 13.7 percent decrease due to the continued closure of many restaurants throughout much of the market year.

“The numbers included in Domestic Usage Report reinforce what the industry has experienced over the past market year, including market shifts caused by imports, supply and demand changes, and the impact of COVID-19,” said Gary Reifeiss, vice president of marketing and sales at Producers Rice Mill and chair of the USA Rice Domestic Usage Report Subcommittee.

“Each year the publication of this report provides the U.S. rice industry with an accurate picture of the trends of the prior market year, and gives producers, millers, and retailers the opportunity to adjust to these trends.”

The report is free for USA Rice members who have participated in data collection. All others can go here to purchase a report for the reduced fee this year of $250 ($500 for non-members).