04/29/15  Arkansas Rice Growers Perfectly Situated to Sell to Cuba

According to Carl Brothers of Stuttgart-based Riceland foods, Cuba is perfectly situated to take advantage of U-S grown rice rather than having it shipped thousands of miles from Asian countries such as Vietnam. Brothers said in a demo-gaz story that Cuba is a market Arkansas should be dominating. Since Arkansas produces slightly more than half the nation's rice, selling to Cuba would translate into the state's farmers being able to devote consistent acreage to the grain, and the added market access would help stabilize prices by better aligning overall demand with available stocks.

Brothers said, this year, we produced enough rice to have easily handled the Cuban business.  He added that Arkansas produces the kind of long grain rice Cubans prefer. No u-s rice is being sold to Cuba at this time because of the trade embargo.