These are difficult times for Spanish rice. Not so much because of the crops but because of the context in which farmers are forced to compete. After several campaigns marked by a adverse weatherthe sector has achieved increase the surface harvested and your estimates For the 2025/2026 campaign they point to a clear increase compared to the previous one. Both indicators are positive, but they have not prevented the sector from being concerned about another reason: falling prices and pressure imports.
There is Who is speaking of an “extreme” situation.
Coming back from the drought. The last few years have not been easy for Spanish rice growers. Among other issues, they have been forced to deal with a drought that has conditioned the cultivated area and (what is the same) production. According to the Esyrce surveyprepared by the Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA), so far this century the average area dedicated to rice has never fallen below 100,000 hectares (in 2011 it even reached 122,300). That changed in recent campaigns due to the serious shortage of water.
This season things are a little different. In June the MAP estimated that the cultivated area will reach 97,000 hectares, 15,400 more than those calculated in spring and 12.9% more than last year. And it is not the only positive indicator. Agro-Food Cooperatives already speaks that the national rice harvest for the 2025/26 campaign will reach 761,515 tons.
In practice, it means improving production by 27.43% compared to the 2024/25 campaign. These are data that are still far from what the sector managed a few years ago (in 2011 it exceeded 900,000 t), but encouraging.
Fantastic, right? More or less. Although these figures lend themselves to an optimistic reading, another feeling prevails in the sector: caution. Just yesterday, in the statement In which it reported the increase in the national rice harvest, Cooperativas Agro-Alimentarias acknowledged facing an “uncertain future” for national crops. And it is not the first message he has launched with that tone.
Just a few weeks ago, during an interview With the Efe agency, the group already reported that it is going through an “extremely extreme” situation marked by prices that in many cases do not cover production costs.
What worries you? To the farmers it worries them the impact of the 2024 DANA in La Albufera, how the hail has punished the crops in the Ebro Delta or the influence of the summer rains and heat waves. Also “the increasingly pronounced lack” of tools to confront pests, “phytosanitary restrictions” that condemn the sector to a “competitive disadvantage”. If there is something worrying in the sector, however, it is grain prices and imports.
Outstanding prices. The message was conveyed clearly. a few weeks ago Félix Liviano, president of the rice sector of Cooperativas Agro-Alimentarias: “In Extremadura it is likely that we will not be able to market 20% of the long rice (indica variety) produced because there is so much imported grain that it is very cheap in the markets.” At that time the indica variety Cascara was priced at 310 euros per tonfar from the 453 in 2024 or the 555 in 2023. The updated data MAPA shows that both indica and japonica are still well below the levels of recent years.
“We can’t compete with them”. There is another point, closely related to the drift in prices, on which the sector focuses: the import of merchandise. I told it recently EFE. For some time now, Spanish farmers have been demanding that the entry of rice from other countries be stopped.
Above all, they target Cambodia and Myanmar, nations benefiting from a community initiative (EBA, Everyting But Arms) that left cereal imports without tariffs in 2009. The situation has undergone changes since then (between 2018 and 2021 clauses that taxed imports were introduced), but even so the Spanish sector warns that it is under excessive pressure.
“Imports are sinking prices in the sector since the safeguard clause disappeared several years ago. We cannot compete with them, because in the EU we have prohibited many phytosanitary active materials, higher labor costs and we produce with sustainability requirements,” explains Ignacio Huertas, from UPA. Hence, it requests “reciprocity” in Brussels’ trade agreements with third countries or the sector emphasizes the importance of providing itself with “automatic safeguard clauses” against imports.
Does that much rice arrive? The EU recognizes that it is not self-sufficient in rice cultivation and needs to import tons of rice every year, especially of the indica variety. Its main origins are Cambodia, India and Thailand, although the photo changes slightly if we talk about the Spanish market.
“The European sector is at a critical crossroads in the face of ongoing negotiations on the GSP. The current framework, combined with preferential trade agreements, bilateral agreements and tariff quotas, allows the annual entry into the EU of around 635,690 tonnes of milled rice without tariffs, in addition to significant quantities of husked rice, especially basmati varieties from India and Pakistan,” remember Cooperativeswhich warns: “Without minimum corrective measures, the future of the sector could be compromised.”
Images | Darío Méndez (Unsplash), Shayan Ghiasvand (Unsplash), MAP and European Commission
In Xataka | Rice has just done the unthinkable: from inflationary threat to historic price collapse
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings