Business briefs for Nov. 13

Auto Tire and Parts' Gary McKown transfers to Ullin, Ill.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- After 47 years of working in Sikeston, Gary McKown has moved to a store in Ullin, Ill.

McKown began working for Auto Tire and Parts in Sikeston after graduating from high school in 1970. Starting on the delivery truck, McKown moved to the machine shop before being named the store manager in 1974.

McKown held that job until Oct. 29, when he transferred to Ullin, Ill.

"Things have changed tremendously," McKown said. "When I started they had just came out with electronic ignition, disc brakes were new and there was no fuel injection, everything was carburated."

Riceland Foods reports $1 billion in 2015-16 sales

JONESBORO, Ark. -- Riceland Foods recorded sales of more than $1 billion for the ninth consecutive year, Danny Kennedy, president and chief executive officer, announced at the farmer-owned cooperative's annual meeting held at Arkansas State University's Convocation Center Thursday.

Kennedy said the value of the cooperative's long grain rice marketing pool which includes freight, storage and interest, topped USDA's national average by 62 cents per bushel. Riceland's soybean seasonal pool beat USDA's national average by 49 cents per bushel.

"We are operating in a challenging agriculture commodity market worldwide," Kennedy said. "World inventories are high for most commodities, including rice."

He said that he is often asked, "How long can prices stay this low? And, how long will this period of low prices last?"

Kennedy quoted Anthony Pratt, executive chairman of Pratt Industries who spoke at the Global Food Forum in New York in October. "America is the world's food super power. Food production is our industry. As big as it is, the U.S. could double sales of food and create millions of new jobs in the process. America can capture this opportunity by selling into the great Asian middle class boom and export more value added products by focusing on our greatest strength--food safety. Food produced and packaged in this country ensures two things: cleanliness and safety."

Kennedy said that world trade in rice was about 12 million metric tons in 1980, and the U.S. supplied 27 percent of the rice that moved into the world market. In 2015, 42 million metric tons moved in international trade, three and a half times more than in 1980, but U.S. sales have been basically flat at 9 percent.

Riceland officials spent the summer working on trade issues related to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Kennedy said the effort helped the entire rice industry focus on the three most important issues impacting U.S. rice trade: unfair subsidization, preventing countries from dumping excess rice into the U.S. market, and increased use of rice in food aid programs.

For the near term, Kennedy said Riceland will continue to operate well its core businesses of grain procurement, rice milling and soybean processing.

"We are the world's largest miller and marketer of rice. We are not chasing price, we are leading the price of rice which is important to every Riceland farmer's bottom line. We are working daily on moving up the value ladder by growing our retail branded business," he said.

"Consumers are willing to pay a higher price for a high quality product at grocery stores or through Amazon than we will ever be able to achieve by selling bulk rice in a boat to another country," he said. "We have freshened our packaging and are introducing specialty products such as our retail bottle of Riceland Rice Bran Oil which sells on Amazon and Riceland Fish Fry Oil which is sold through Bass Pro stores."

Kennedy said consumers want to know not only what they are eating, but they want to know who grows their food, how they grow it, and that it is being produced sustainably, safely and healthy.