Record $1.88 billion in revenue for SunRice

SunRice has announced it’s best set of financials in the 74-year history of the company. See what it means for growers.

SunRice told shareholders at a meeting this morning it had achieved a record revenue of $1.88 billion for the financial year.

The results represented a 15 per cent increase from last year and in terms of gains, the increase was even higher, with $68.2 million delivered in net profit after tax, which was an increase of 24 per cent from last year.

The 2024 harvest in southern NSW yielded a total of 618,000 paddy tonnes.

However, there were some changes to trading on the horizon for rice growers and starting July 1, 2025 the industry will not have the single desk. During the meeting SunRice management was keen to reinforce that legislative changes would not affect the current crop.

SunRice chief executive officer and managing director Paul Serra said this was his first year with the company and he was pleased with the performance metrics delivered.

He emphasised the success of the company’s branded products and also the importance of overseas markets.

Revenue from the rice pool, under branded product, returned $384.9 million, an increase of 15 per cent from last year. And the paddy price for growers was $370 to $430/tonne for medium grain rice which was in fact a drop from the previous year.

Last year the paddy price was $461/tonne and back in 2021 growers received as much as $750/tonne for rice.

International rice markets showed growth despite challenges in distribution due to the crisis in the Red Sea.

Rice producers learn of solid financial results. Photo: Emma Jane

The international market had a 22 per cent growth gain compared to last year to return $893.8 million in revenue.

The stockfeed component of SunRice, known as CopRice, was also a strong performer in the financial breakdown.

SunRice recorded an increase in revenue of seven per cent to $252.7 million compared to $236.1 million last financial year.

A total of 44 per cent of the revenue was generated from the companion animal market, 42 per cent from stock feed and 14 per cent from the equine sector.

Australia and New Zealand attributed to 95 per cent of the CopRice revenue with the balance of 5 per cent from Asia.

SunRice chief financial officer, Dimitri Courtelis told shareholders that the company had also achieved 12.7 per cent growth on capital.

“This reflects the company’s ability to generate a return on investments,” he said.

Based on the company’s financial status the closing B Class Share price at April 30 this year was $6.51, the fully-franked dividend of 60 cents per B Class Share represented 9.2 per cent and a payout of 62 per cent.