Market Overview

U.S. rice has been actively marketing long grain, medium grain and wild rice varieties in the UK for over 30 years.

The UK remains the single largest market in the EU for US rice and is the largest market for a wide variety of rice in the EU.

The single largest U.S. long grain rice consumption group in the UK is Chinese restaurants. There are around 22,000 Asian and Oriental restaurants and takeaways in the UK, importing over 12,000 MT of U.S. long grain rice annually. Long grain is a specific requirement for this sector due to its cooking attributes and complement to Chinese food and cuisine.

 

Additionally, in 2017 U.S. long grain parboiled rice sales started to pick up in the Afro-Caribbean ethnic sector as well. The Caribbean food market is not only experiencing a growth in the restaurant and street food sector, it has also enjoyed a 15% year-on-year growth in UK retail.