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Australia rice industry slams US farm bill

REUTERS, Sydney
The Australian rice industry would suffer further damage because of the new US farm bill about to be brought into law, Australia's major rice exporter said Wednesday.
The group, SunRice, part of the Australian Rice growers Cooperative, said increases in non-commercial US rice production and subsidised export practices would hit Australian rice growers hard through imports, competition in export markets and through collapsing prices.
The group urged the Australian government to continue to press the US government to re-think its support for the US rice industry.
Already around 25 per cent of Australia's domestic market consisted of subsidised rice imports,
SunRice's chief executive officer Gary Helou said.
He said he would welcome federal government action against subsidised rice entering the open Australian rice market.
"At a time of significant damage to the Australian rice industry and lower returns to Australian farmers, any action that addresses such unfair trade practices has to be implemented by the government," he said.
Increases in non-commercial US rice production and subsidised export practices would hit Australian rice growers hard, he said.
More than 60 per cent of total rice payments received by US growers came from the US government. Those payments exceeded average international rice prices
and the average income of Australian rice farmers, he said.
From late 2000, US-led price aggression based on subsidised exports damaged Australian export markets, including Japan and the Middle East, and led to price collapses of upto 50 per cent, Helou said.
Australia is the world's seventh largest rice exporter, with annual export revenues of A$800 million ($432 million).
SunRice, owned by 2,200 rice farmers, exports to more than 70 countries, producing income of more than A$500 million in 2001.
The group is Australia's largest processed food exporter and the fourth largest rice company in the world, exporting 85 per cent of its product each year.