Heavy metal fears devastate market for rice farmers

A majority of rice mills in Yiyang, Hunan Province, have recently suspended business because of media reports that its some 10,000 tons of cadmium-tainted rice had entered the Guangdong market, the Economic Information Daily reported Monday.

Local farmers are considering abandoning growing rice completely, the report said.

Around 70 percent of rice mills in the famous Lanxi rice market were closed during the past month after the report in the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily. The report claimed the tainted rice was sold in Guangdong by the Shenzhen Cereals Group in 2009.

Local rice farmers and mills are expecting the provincial government to disclose results of an investigation into the claims as soon as possible.

Over 200 rice mills in Lanxi produce around 2 million tons of rice per year. Guangdong and Fujian are the main buyers.

"We stopped receiving orders but kept getting calls asking to return the goods since the report came out. Our Guangdong office has received over 100 tons returned and we only sold 70 tons (so far this year), while last year we sold 500 tons as of March," said Xu Wu, owner of the Shanling rice mill in the Lanxi market.

Local farmers are also worrying about the plunging rice price. "The price has dropped by 20 yuan ($3.22) per 100 kilograms from last year. I might change to vegetables or livestock if rice is no longer popular," said Zhang Mingshu, a prominent local rice farmer, echoing many of his peers.

Zhang Wenchang, director of the grain association of Hanshou county, said that the sales volume of local rice has dropped by 60 percent with mills suffering the most. He added it won't be long before the sales chain begins to suffer if the situation continues.