Producers Rice Mill production up 14%

Producers Rice Mill Inc.’s mills processed 64.3 million bushels of rice in its 2012-2013 year, up 14 percent from the previous year, Keith Glover, president of the firm, said at the 70th annual membership meeting this week in Stuttgart.

Producers’ sales for the year were a record $568.5 million, up $90 million from the previous year.

Producers had net taxable income of $1.9 million for the year and had members’ equity of $108.6 million.

The rice crop in 2012 was one of the earliest ever planted, but the 2013 crop was one of the latest planted because of rain and the second coldest March and April since 1895, Producers said.

The 2013 rice acreage planted in Arkansas declined by 285,000 acres, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures. Producers attributed that to unfavorable planting weather and attractive prices for corn and soybeans.

The company is optimistic about U.S. rice prices for 2013-2014, Glover said. With 126.5 million hundredweight harvested, this year’s national long-grain rice crop will be the second smallest in 17 years. That will make U.S. longgrain rice supplies the tightest in 10 years.