Ricegrowers in the various districts of the Riverina are busily irrigating their crops, so timely to focus on current price levels for rice harvested in 2017, and the outlook for the 2018 crop.
For C17 paddy pricing (for rice harvested in 2017 and marketed in the 2018 financial year) SunRice are estimating the current range at $335-$365/tn for base grade medium grain.
That price range has been revised upwards by $35/tn since the original indication of $300-$320 was announced in August 2017.
Spokesperson for SunRice said the uplift in values has been driven by a continuation of positive price movements in international markets, couples with SunRice’s ongoing strategy of placing Australian rice in higher returning markets, whilst substituting supply into lower returning markets with paddy from alternative markets.
“SunRice is hopeful that with the continuation of the positive movements in global markets that this trend may continue,” their spokesperson said.
“However, any softening in markets and a further strengthening of the Australian dollar will naturally influence the final pool result.”
SunRice is forecasting the current crop to be harvested during March/April 2018 and marketed in the 2019 financial year to be approximately 600,000 tonnes.
Whilst this is down on last year’s 802,000 tonnes due to reduced water allocation, SunRice is encouraged by the commitment of ricegrowers and with a hot growing season, expectations of an excellent harvest starting in March are high.
With a strong global outlook for Australian-grown rice, the strategy of SunRice is to further advance initiatives both at home and abroad to add value to premium Australian-grown rice and drive strong grower returns.
“Core to that strategy is SunRice’s capacity as an internationally-focused Australian agribusiness to innovate and leverage global food trends,” their spokesperson said.
“Over the past 12 months, SunRice has been proactively engaging with it’s customers in Japanese and Korean markets to showcase the business’s vertically integrated supply chain and the unique benefits that this can offer business partners around the globe.”
SunRice has been hosting ‘paddy to plate’ tours for it’s Japanese and Korean customers of their Riverina-based operations including their Research and Development subsidiary Rice Research Australia Pty Ltd and rice grower’s properties to raise the brand profile.
They are also in the process of developing a series of visually compelling videos showcasing the growing cycle, and all of these initiatives have been received extremely positively.
“They are starting to yield real and tangible results, which will benefit Australian growers and the SunRice business more broadly,” the SunRice spokesperson said.
