US lawmaker, rice growers welcome probe into global rice trade

A top US lawmaker has welcomed the decision by a federal trade body to conduct an investigation into global rice trade that will report on competition factors in major rice producing and exporting countries including India.
Rice producers in the US are subject to volatile price fluctuations that can have devastating effects on business as a direct result of distortions put in place by foreign governments, Congressman Charles Boustany said.
"This report will serve to show that the harmful impacts of these policies that limit our producers' ability to compete. I applaud the USITC's decision to move ahead with this investigation and look forward to the results," Boustany said.

"Subsidies to foreign producers by their governments are behind substantial competition in traditional US markets and we're looking forward to the ITC investigation to provide information that the rice industry can use to educate the Administration and Congress," Mark Denman, Chairman of the USA Rice Federation, said.
USITC has announced launch of an investigation into global rice trade that will report on competition factors in major rice producing and exporting countries.
These include Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Uruguay, Vietnam and the US.
The USITC will examine costs of production, industry structure, input prices and availability, pricing and marketing regimes besides government policies that affect rice production and export in the selected countries.