Rice production in the United Stated declined 13 percent in 2015 to 192.3 million hundredweight, down 29.9 million hundredweight from a year earlier, according to USDA’s Economic Research Service.
USDA says the decline in production was the result of both smaller plantings and a lower average yield.
At 2.6 million acres, 2015-2016 rice plantings were 11.5 percent below a year earlier, primarily reflecting weather-related problems that included excessive rain in the Mississippi Delta early in the growing season, and long-term drought in California and Texas.
The U.S. average yield of 7,470 pounds per acre was 1.4 percent below a year earlier.
Despite the sharp decline in the 2015 crop, U.S. supplies are projected to drop by only five percent due to the substantial quantity of rice that was carried over from the previous year, when production reached the fourth highest level on record due to strong prices and normal weather in the South that boosted acreage.
