Vesting is an arrangement under the NSW Marketing of Primary Products Act 1983 which requires all rice grown in NSW be delivered to the Rice Marketing Board. The Rice Marketing Board facilitates the marketing of rice in the best long term interests of the rice farmers.

The Rice Marketing Board has appointed Ricegrowers Limited, trading as SunRice®, as its sole agent to buy and sell rice

Rice products

Vesting of NSW rice by the Rice Marketing Board, and SunRice®'s contractual agreement with the Board, gives SunRice® and therefore rice farmers complete and effective control of the NSW rice crop. The domestic regulation arrangement also provides SunRice® with the raw material to produce a variety of value-added products. These range from packaged and graded milled rice to parboiled rice and value added meals.

The benefits of vesting include the following:

1. the coordinated management of the production and marketing of rice in a deregulated environment maximises the profits to the shareholders who are the rice farmers themselves. The impact of fluctuations on the production volumes of rice and rice quality is also easier to control through vesting
2. Vesting enables SunRice to be globally competitive in the international rice markets of the world due to economies of scale.
3. Through the process of vesting shipments of rice are readily able to be matched to customer requirements for type, quality and surety of supply of rice
4. Vesting enables minimal delivery costs for rice and leads to greater export competitiveness because of efficient and cost effective transport and storage facilities.
5. Through vesting a single export marketer such as SunRice® is able to gain regular sales with price premiums. Consequently, the Australian rice industry has developed an export rice business worth about $AUD500 million annually.