Key takeaways
- Two neighbours take almost everything: Colombia 69.9% of the volume and Chile 28.8%, at about $550 a tonne.
- Outside the region the same origin sells at a different level: Italy $1,820, Canada $2,930, United States $3,420 a tonne, on small volumes.
- Volume grew from 1,600 to 8,500 tonnes in a year while the price fell from $890 to $540 a tonne, so the growth was bought with price.
The numbers behind this
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Colombia | 69.9% of volume |
| Chile | 28.8% of volume |
| Regional price | $550 per tonne |
| Italy | $1,820 per tonne |
| Canada | $2,930 per tonne |
| United States | $3,420 per tonne |
| Volume, year on year | from 1,600 to 8,500 tonnes |
| Price, year on year | from $890 to $540 per tonne |
| Active exporters | 58 |
| Dominant pack | 50 kg sacks, $13.6M of the trade |
Peru exports rice. Colombia takes 69.9% of the volume and Chile 28.8%. Everything else together is under 2%.
Those two neighbours pay about $550 a tonne.
Italy pays $1,820 and the United States $3,420.
The same origin sells at two completely different levels, and almost none of the volume is at the higher one.
The regional trade
What moves next door is semi milled grain. The descriptions say so directly, and they say it in 50 kilo sacks, which carry $13.6M of the trade.
Semi milled is not finished white rice. It has had the husk and part of the bran removed and it will usually be milled again closer to the consumer.
That is a commodity sold on price, by truck, into markets that mill for themselves. There is no brand, no pack and no story attached to it.
The region pays one price and everyone else pays several times that
Average export price by destination, 2025-2026
And it is getting cheaper
The regional trade is scaling fast and pricing down while it does. Volume went from 1,600 tonnes to 8,500 year on year.
The price fell from $890 a tonne to $540 over the same stretch.
Read that carefully, because it is the most useful thing in the data. The origin has just proved it can produce and ship at volume, and it has sold that new capacity into the two markets that pay the least for it.
The other level
Outside the region the numbers change shape entirely, with the Netherlands and Belgium landing around $1,100 and the rest higher.
The volumes are tiny. A few containers each, from a handful of exporters.
Some of that gap is specification: finished white rice, a retail pack, a certification, an importer of record with its own compliance chain. Some of it is simply that a small shipment carries more cost per tonne.
But a multiple that size is more than packing and freight explain, and the gap has stayed open while the regional price collapsed.
Volume multiplied by five in a year, and the price paid for it
Exported volume, year on year
Why the gap survives
The obvious question is why an exporter selling at the regional price does not chase the other one.
The answer sits in what the two trades require. A truck to Colombia needs a sack, a price and a phytosanitary certificate. A container to Italy or Canada needs a specification the mill may not currently run, packaging it does not own, and a buyer relationship nobody has built.
None of that is impossible. All of it is work that a mill filling trucks profitably has had no reason to start.
What that means for a buyer outside the region
This is the opening, and it is unusually clean.
The supply base is real and it has just demonstrated volume. It is fragmented enough to approach, with 58 active exporters and ten of them holding 81.5% of the value.
And it has almost no experience of markets outside the neighbourhood, which means the terms are not yet set by precedent.
A buyer arriving now is not competing for capacity against other importers from their own market. There are barely any.
What to ask for
Ask for the milling degree in writing, because semi milled and fully milled are different products and the word rice covers both.
Ask what pack the mill currently runs, and what it would take to run yours. The 50 kilo sack is the default and it is a default, not a limit.
Ask for the broken grain percentage and the moisture, with the harvest attached.
And ask how much of their current volume goes by truck. A mill that has never loaded a container for an ocean crossing is not a worse supplier, but it is a different project, and it is better to know that in the first conversation than in the third.
Common questions
Does Peru export rice?
Yes. Colombia takes 69.9% of the volume and Chile 28.8%, with everything else together under 2%.
What price does Peruvian rice sell at?
About $550 a tonne to Colombia and Chile. Outside the region, Italy pays $1,820, Canada $2,930 and the United States $3,420 on much smaller volumes.
What kind of rice is it?
Mostly semi milled grain in 50 kilo sacks, which appear in 333 shipments carrying $13.6M. Semi milled is usually milled again closer to the consumer.
Is the trade growing?
Volume went from 1,600 tonnes to 8,500 year on year while the price fell from $890 a tonne to $540.
How fragmented is the supply base?
58 exporters are active. The largest holds 37.6% of the value and ten are needed to reach 81.5%.
Get a vetted shortlist of Peruvian suppliers, not just another quote
Tell us your grade, specification and volume. We profile suppliers on the ground in Peru, confirm what they actually ship, and hand you a short list of verified exporters that fit your spec.
Request an introductionSourcing intelligence on Peru, straight from Lima
a short brief on Peru sourcing, sent occasionally.