Carrefour to test premium rice from SL Agritech

MANILA, Philippines - French supermarket chain Carrefour will source a trial shipment of premium rice from local rice producer SL Agritech Corporation for its outlets in Dubai next month. 

SL Agritech is expected to ship by October 156 metric tons (MT) of Dona Maria Jasponica and Miponica brown and white rice to Dubai. 

Carrefour is the second largest retail group in the world next to Walmart and is the largest retail group in Europe.

SL Agritech’s shipments would be priced at $1, 250 per MT. 

 â€œThe Department of Agriculture will not allow you to export at less than $1000 per ton.  DA provided for us the opportunity to export rice when we shipped to Dubai the first time (last May),” said SLAC chairman Henry Lim Bon Liong.

The shipment to Dubai through Carrefour involves eight containers holding 20 MT each.   

“This is just for market penetration,” said Donna T. Lim, SLAC assistant vice president-supply chain.

Lim said Filipinos living in Dubai would be the primary consumers of the product.     

Fifty percent (of the Dubai population) is Filipinos. They’re eating rice that is imported from Thailand. We did a little twist on our packaging to ask them to help support Filipino rice so they may support Filipino farmers,” said Lim.

A separate shipment of 19.5 MT of Dona Maria rice would be sent to Los Angeles, California by October.

For the export to Los Angeles, SL Agritech would be shipping through international trader Triple A.

 â€œDA’s (rice) export strategy has attracted the international market already.  It has attracted the attention of big buyers, so Carrefour talked to us,” said Lim.

SL Agrtitech grows rice and hybrid rice seeds  in Laguna, Nueva Ecija and Mindoro.