Live Rice Index

The South American rice market is focused around Brazil, which is historically Mercosur’s largest producer, consumer and exporter and is a major export market for other South American origins. However, volatility in Brazilian production in the last two years has caused significant changes in paddy prices, leading to an unpredictable export and import market. Rice from Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay is often exported to regional markets such as Peru, Chile and Central America. However, Argentine and Uruguayan rice is also regularly purchased by the Iraqi Ministry of Trade, with Paraguayan rice also purchased for the first time in 2018. Broken and parboiled rice can also be competitive in West African markets and Uruguay regularly sells brown parboiled rice to Europe. Most South American countries have their main harvests in February/March and the region’s long grain rice is generally regarded as high quality.