Abraham: Rice deal with Iraq to benefit American producers

WASHINGTON - Iraq has agreed to purchase 15,000 metric tons of rice from the United States in a new deal that will benefit American rice producers.

Iraq recently concluded a 30,000 metric ton rice tender. The United States will provide half of that rice while Uruguay will provide the other half. 

Congressman Ralph Abraham, M.D., R-Alto and Louisiana's only representative on the House Agriculture Committee, advocated for American rice on the very first day the tender was opened. He authored a letter to Douglas Silliman, the US ambassador to Iraq, and urged him to work with Iraqi officials to see that America had an opportunity to sell its rice to that country.

"This is a tremendous win for American rice producers. Anytime we can sell our commodities in large transactions like these, it elevates the entire industry. Louisiana is one of the top rice-producing states in the nation, and our growers will almost certainly benefit from this deal," Dr. Abraham said.

Louisiana is one of the top three rice-producing states in the country, along with California and Arkansas. Louisiana rice producers grew 2.7 billion pounds of rice across 390,000 acres for a total production value of $372.7 million in 2017, according to the LSU AgCenter. Acadiana and Northeast Louisiana account for most of the rice production in the state.

"Congressman Abraham and his staff have worked diligently with the Iraqi Embassy for the past several weeks on a potential sale of US rice to Iraq, and I know without the wonderful working relationship that Dr. Abraham has with various foreign trade leaders, this business was extremely unlikely to reach US rice," said Scott Franklin of the Northeast Louisiana Rice Growers Association. "Iraq is a tremendous market for rice, particularly for premium quality rice. The fact that we won this business at the first Iraqi tender offer of the 2018 crop season is very promising way to kick off the South Louisiana milling season with some much-needed business." 

The recent deal is the latest in a string of successes for American rice producers. Last November, Iraq purchased 90,000 metric tons of rice from the United States, a huge deal that Dr. Abraham also lobbied hard to strike. This is the third rice sale to Iraq in the last calendar year.
 

Cole Avery
Communications Director
cole.avery@mail.house.gov
O: 202.225.8490
C: 318.243.9704