A big hit with food shoppers

ACCRA, GHANA -- The USA Rice Federation began a two-week interactive supermarket promotion of U.S. jasmine rice here last week that is resulting in increased awareness and sales of this specialty rice product. 

Three major supermarkets in Accra are taking part in the promotion where shoppers can learn about the unique attributes of U.S. jasmine rice and observe cooking demonstrations.

Just eight days into the campaign, two of the supermarkets completely sold out of their U.S. jasmine stock and placed fresh orders.

"Supermarkets are a new phenomenon here for the growing middle class," explained Eszter Somogyi, USA Rice's representative in the region.  "We carefully planned our promotion to take advantage of consumer habits and trends, such as purchasing smaller quantities to control household budgets and stocking up on groceries in the run up to school holidays."

The supermarkets and brands that stock U.S.-grown rice are very pleased with the results of the promotion and are encouraging more activities to continue to drive sales of U.S. jasmine rice.

U.S.-grown jasmine was first introduced in the market here five years ago and was immediately popular with consumers, but has suffered a sharp decline in sales due to intense price competition from mainly Thai and Vietnamese sources.

Contact:  Sarah Moran (703) 236-145

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