Steam and sella are both parboiled, but they are not the same product, and buying teams who write “steam” on an RFQ are usually institutional kitchens who want a specific firmness, not a lighter word for golden sella.
Steam grade goes through a shorter, less intensive parboiling cycle than golden sella — the paddy is soaked and steamed under pressure to gelatinise the starch and lock nutrients into the grain before milling, but without the deep colour development sella goes through. The result is a pale, near-white grain that stays firm and separate after cooking without the golden hue, which is exactly why some buyers ask for it over sella: a caterer plating a dish where the rice’s own colour matters, or a retail buyer whose customer base expects a whiter grain, will specify steam by name rather than accept sella as a substitute.
Institutional and labour-camp catering contracts make up the largest single slice of steam-grade demand across the UAE — kitchens feeding hundreds or thousands of people a day value the grain’s firmness under long hold times and its resistance to turning mushy in a bain-marie far more than any golden colour. Airline and facility-management catering, hospital and school feeding programmes, and staff-accommodation kitchens sit alongside them, all buying on a standing contract rather than a spot purchase, and all placing more weight on consistent moisture and shelf stability than on cosmetic grade.
| Check | Why a steam-grade buyer asks |
|---|---|
| Moisture around 12% | Higher moisture in Gulf heat and humidity shortens shelf life and risks clumping in bulk storage |
| Broken percentage | Institutional buyers on standing contracts often accept 2% for cost, but want it stated and consistent |
| Firmness after extended hold | Some catering buyers request a cook-and-hold test, since a bain-marie holds rice hot for hours |
| Packaging | Plain 10kg–50kg sacks dominate; retail-pack steam rice exists but is a smaller share than sella |
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Yes — steam grade is a lighter, shorter parboiling process than golden sella, which is itself a more deeply parboiled grade. Both are technically parboiled; the difference buyers care about is colour depth and the length of the steaming cycle.
Steam grade holds its firmness under long hot-hold times without needing the deeper colour development sella carries, and it typically costs less — a combination that suits high-volume institutional feeding contracts better than restaurant plating.
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