LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas rice farmers will likely see the steepest rice price drop in decades this year amid shifting global tariffs and severe flooding.
Rice prices have dropped by 37 percent in just one year. That’s according to Producers Rice Mill president and CEO Keith Glover. Glover told the Little Rock Rotary Club yesterday that in the first week of April, many of the counties in Eastern Arkansas received anywhere from 10 to 12 inches of rain and a lot of those fields were planted in rice. He said a lot of those were not re-planted.
Glover also told the club that President Donald Trump’s increasing of U.S. tariffs are also affecting the rice crop.
First District Congressman Rick Crawford said he is confident that Trump’s tariffs will eventually have a positive impact on the U.S. rice crop.
“All he’s trying to do here is get people to the table, and guess what, it’s worked,” Crawford said. “I think as a tool to start dialogue to create a better, more even playing field, I think it’s worked well. Not to mention the fact that now we’re bringing in additional dollars that are having an impact on our budget in a positive way. Could it continue? Possibly, I don’t know, but in terms of his use of tariffs as a conversation starter and potentially a bargaining chip, I think it has really done wonders. I’d look, for example, at the trade deal with the E.U. They’ve been a tough nut to crack, and yet it was the tariff conversation that was the catalyst for the E.U.”
Roughly 45 percent of all U.S. rice is exported. Arkansas leads the nation in rice production.
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