China Is World’s Biggest Importer of Rice But None From US

choi

David Pierson, US Rice Farmers See Opportunity in China. Aug 24, 2014.
www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-f ... 4-story.html#page=1

Quote:

Greg Yielding, head of emerging markets for the US Rice Producers Assn, a Houston-based trade group, went to China to give Chinese a taste of American rice: "they would really like it. * * * But eight years after Yielding's first venture on behalf of the US industry, not a single shipment of American rice has officially made it into Chinese hands. That won't happen until the two countries agree on a so-called phytosanitary protocol, which determines the necessary steps US rice exporters must take to mitigate pests such as insects."

“American agricultural exports [of all sorts agricultural products, but not rice] of to China rose to a record $25.8 billion last year from $5 billion a decade earlier.

“starting in 2012, China went on a spree, scooping up millions of tons of the grain from countries such as Vietnam, Pakistan and India. China is now on pace to import [from abroad excluding US] a record 3.4 million tons of rice this year — six times more than it did in 2011, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

“Though it produces only 2% of the world's rice, the US accounts for nearly 10% of the rice traded globally — enough to make it the fifth-biggest exporter. About half the rice grown in the US ends up abroad.

“California's Sacramento Valley produces about one-fifth of America's rice, generally a stickier medium grain that's popular in north Asia and often is used in sushi. The rest is mostly long grain grown in the southern US in states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

“Chinese appetite for imported rice may partly reflect surging food demand, analysts said. But it's mostly driven by arbitrage, as government policies have kept domestic rice prices high to protect Chinese farmers. Rice mills in China decided it was cheaper to buy foreign supplies.

Note:
(a) US-China Phytosanitary Negotiations Enter Another Phase. USA Rice Federation, Feb 12, 2014.
www.usarice.com/index.php?option ... enter-another-phase
(China “in the past few years has grown into the world’s largest rice importer”)
(b) Central Valley (California)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Valley_(California)
("the Sacramento Valley, which receives well over 20 inches (510 mm) of rain annually, in the north, and the drier San Joaquin Valley in the south * * * The Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems drain their respective valleys")

(c) “Josh Sheppard, a fourth-generation rice grower in Biggs, Calif, about 60 miles north of Sacramento”
(i) Biggs, California
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggs,_California
(a city in Butte County; 2010 census: 1,707; named for Maj Marion Biggs, who first shipped grain by rail from the town's location)
(ii) The English surname Biggs: “nickname for a large or stout person, Middle English bigge + unexplained -s”
(iii) The French and English surname Marion: “from a pet form of Marie”

(d)
(i) in the gutter: “Fig. [of a person] in a low state; poor and homeless. (*Typically: be ~; fall [into] ~; put some-one [into] ~)”
idioms.thefreedictionary.com/in+the+gutter
(ii) have one's mind in the gutter: "Fig. tending to think of or say things that are obscene"
idioms.thefreedictionary.com/have+mind+in+the+gutter

Both (i) and (ii) are from McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs, 2002.
(iii) Quote: ‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.’
Oscar Wilde Lady Windemere's Fan ( 1892)

(e) “Sheppard, who heads a rice farming cooperative in Butte County that's already made plans to export to China. The cooperative is managed by Stuart Hoetger, co-founder of Stogan Group, an agricultural consulting firm in Chico, Calif.
Hoetger has arranged a partnership between the rice growers and Chinese food and agriculture conglomerate Wufeng.
Medium grain rice known as Calrose grown by the cooperative is being shipped in limited quantities to Chinese ports, where Wufeng is redirecting it to customers in small markets such as the Solomon Islands [a nation in the Pacific], the idea being Hoetger and his growers will be ready to ship to China shortly after a trade agreement is finalized.”
(i) The English surnames Shepard/ Sheppard are variants of English surname Shepherd.
(ii) 辽宁五峰农业股份有限公司  
lnwuf.com
(成立于2000年; 以稻米加工为主导; 位于辽宁省锦州市)