US firm blazes trail with deal to export rice to China

By Vakkas Dogantekin

ANKARA (AA) - As it turns out, the old adage about “selling coal to Newcastle” may not be as silly as it sounds.

While tens of millions of America Bibles -- with their distinctively thin pages -- are now printed in China, that mainstay of Chinese cuisine, rice, will be imported from California after a company in Sacramento on Tuesday signed the very first contract for a U.S. firm to sell rice to the Asian nation.

“Fifteen years of patience and hard work have paid off,” said Ken LaGrande, the CEO of Sun Valley Rice, as quoted by the American Journal of Transportation.

“It is truly an honor and a privilege to blaze this trail of trading history — American rice in China.”

The company said they will be providing their premium California Calrose medium-grain rice to Shenzhen Hong Tai, one of the largest importers of rice into China.

“We understand the role that small, local family farms play in feeding the world — since we come from one,” said LaGrande.

The Chinese company said they chose Sun Valley Rice because it had "clearly studied Asian cultures deeply, especially Japanese and Chinese,” stressing the importance of cultural sensitivity for making inroads into Asian markets.