The Rice Trader

What The Rice Trader does

The Rice Trader is a private global rice industry intelligence and media firm founded in 2002 by Jeremy Zwinger and headquartered in Durham, California. Operating under the International Commodity Institute umbrella, the company publishes a Weekly Market Report 48 times per year, delivers a Daily News Update, and sells four subscription tiers (Daily Essential, Intensive Markets, Global Reports, and Professional Access) directly through its website, world-rice.com. The platform combines proprietary market analysis, country-specific Market Reviews, Futures and Tender Vitals data products, and Special Report/Vessel Sales data to serve traders, producers, exporters, importers, and allied industry participants across more than 20 countries. Beyond subscriptions, the company runs the annual World Rice Conference—the self-described leading forum for rice industry professionals—plus the International Water & Rice Conference (IWRC) in the Philippines, weekly Direct TV interviews with the CEO, and the World's Best Rice and Lifetime Achievement awards programs. Jeremy Zwinger serves as President and CEO across The Rice Trader, Farm And Trade Inc., and International Commodity Institute, indicating a unified founder-led corporate structure with no disclosed external investors or parent entity.

Name

The Rice Trader

Legal name

The Rice Trader

Website

https://thericetrader.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Rice Trader is a private global rice market intelligence firm that publishes a weekly market report (48 issues/year), hosts the World Rice Conference and IWRC, and operates awards programs serving rice traders, producers, and exporters across 20+ countries since 2002.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Market Intelligence

NAICS

Securities and Commodity Exchanges (523210)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Commodity Market Data, Pricing & Benchmark Administrators (Commodity Indices/Assessments) (FSAFAMAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Supply Chain, Marketing & Contracting Advisory (Grain/Livestock Marketing) (AFACAJAH)

Keywords

• Rice market intelligence
• Agricultural commodities reporting
• Industry trade conferences
• Commodity market analysis
• Rice trade publications

Headquarters

HQ city

Durham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Market Report Subscriptions: Weekly, monthly, and annual subscriptions to The Rice Trader Market Report, including Daily Essentials, Intensive Markets, Global Reports, and Professional Access packages. Published 48 times per year.
2. World Rice Conference & Events: The Rice Trader World Rice Conference is the world's leading forum for rice industry professionals, emphasizing global rice trade. Additional events include TRT conferences and the International Water & Rice Conference (IWRC).
3. Special Reports & Data Services: Special reports including vessel sales data and various industry analysis products.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Rice Trader provides weekly market intelligence reports (48 issues per year) on the global rice industry, available through tiered subscriptions (Daily Essential, Intensive Markets, Global Reports, Professional Access). It complements these reports with the annual World Rice Conference and IWRC networking events, country-level market reviews, futures and tender data, special vessel-sales reports, international awards, and global consulting services, all serving rice industry participants across more than 20 countries.

Product overview

The Rice Trader is a unified platform of rice industry intelligence products and services under the International Commodity Institute umbrella. The core offering is the Weekly Rice Trader Market Report (published 48 times/year), available through four subscription tiers: Daily Essential, Intensive Markets, Global Reports, and Professional Access. These are supplemented by event services (World Rice Conference), specialized data products (Special Reports/Vessel Sales, Futures, Tender Vitals), country-specific Market Reviews, and media content (Weekly Direct TV Interviews). Award programs (World's Best Rice Award, Lifetime Achievement Award) and international consulting services round out the portfolio, providing integrated media coverage from farm to fork across the global rice supply chain.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Rice Trader Weekly Market Report

Quantifiable outcome

• Leaders from over 20 countries and every corner of the rice industry receive The Rice Trader
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• International Commodity InstitutecoreOthersThe International Commodity Institute is the umbrella organization that serves to offer clients an integrated media source connecting all critical aspects of the world rice industry. Founded by Jeremy Zwinger in 2002, it brings together in-depth market reports (The Rice Trader publications), trade networking (World Rice Conference), media activities (Weekly Direct TV Interviews), global consulting services, and international recognition awards.
• Farm And Trade, Inc.coreOthersCorporate entity affiliated with The Rice Trader. Jeremy Zwinger serves as CEO/President of The Rice Trader, Farm And Trade, Inc., and International Commodity Institute.
• AgriSea Group (Dubai)flagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerFor the past eight years, AgriSea has consistently found immense value in its sponsorship and active participation in The Rice Trader's World Rice Conference. The annual event has been a cornerstone for AgriSea's growth within the global rice industry, providing a platform to cultivate lasting connections and foster crucial business relationships. AgriSea highly recommends both The Rice Trader Report and the World Rice Conference to anyone seeking to thrive in this dynamic market.
• Ho Quang Tri Private Enterprise (Vietnam)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerHo Quang Tri Private Enterprise won the World's Best Rice award at The Rice Trader's World Rice Conference in 2019 and 2023, which helped bring Vietnam's ST25 rice to the forefront of the global market. The recognition translated into trust, demand, and lasting partnerships. TRT has built a platform that champions fairness, credibility, and genuine excellence.
• Direct TVcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerMr. Zwinger conducts weekly market discussion analysis on Direct TV, talking about commodity markets and important topics of the day. This provides media exposure and credibility for The Rice Trader brand.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Argus Media: Independent commodity intelligence provider offering market reports, price assessments, and conferences across energy, fertilizers, and agricultural commodities. Closely comparable to The Rice Trader in offering integrated subscription publications plus flagship annual conferences for commodity market participants.
• Urner Barry: Long-running agricultural commodity price reporting and market intelligence firm focused on proteins, produce, and seafood. Comparable niche-commodity subscription intelligence model with similar publication cadence and customer base of food industry professionals.
• Fastmarkets: Global commodity price reporting agency providing subscription market intelligence, pricing assessments, and industry events across multiple commodity markets. Directly comparable business model (subs + events + data) to The Rice Trader, though Fastmarkets covers many more commodities and geographies.
• Oryza.com: Online rice industry news, market intelligence, and price reporting service covering global rice trade, production, and policy. A direct rice-specific competitor in subscription rice market intelligence, narrower in geographic depth than The Rice Trader's conference franchise but overlapping in content.

Emerging players

• Milling Middle East & Africa / Perkin Publications: Trade publications covering grain, rice, and flour milling industries in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia with subscription-based market reports and industry events. A regional and adjacent commodity peer serving overlapping customer types (millers, traders) with similar content-led model.
• Rice Today (IRRI publication): International Rice Research Institute's flagship publication covering global rice science, policy, and trade developments. Overlaps with The Rice Trader's rice industry coverage from a research/development angle rather than commercial trading intelligence.

Broad incumbents

• S&P Global Commodity Insights (Platts): The dominant global commodity intelligence, pricing, and benchmark provider across energy, metals, and agricultural commodities. Highly comparable to The Rice Trader as a subscription-based market data and analysis platform, but operating at vastly greater scale across many commodities rather than specializing in rice.
• Reuters / LSEG Agricultural Commodities: Global financial data and news provider with extensive agricultural commodity coverage including rice futures, tenders, and trade flow reporting. Comparable in serving institutional commodity market participants, though rice is one of many commodities within a much broader financial data portfolio.

Others

• International Grains Council (IGC): Intergovernmental organization providing global grain market information, including rice supply/demand data and market reports. Comparable in subject matter coverage (rice market data) but operates as a public sector body rather than commercial subscription model.
• FAO Food and Agriculture Organization Statistics (FAOSTAT): United Nations agency providing free global agricultural production, trade, and price statistics including rice. An indirect competitor on the data layer — public rather than paid, but referenced by the same institutional rice market participants and a benchmark for The Rice Trader's proprietary data.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=7fyx5d9EaP0
• Xx.com/rice_trader

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Rice Trader