iGrain India - New Delhi. During the financial year 2022-23, 45.60 lakh tonnes of Basmati rice was exported from the country, which increased rapidly in 2023-24 to a new record level of 52.40 lakh tonnes.
There is still a good stock of Basmati rice in the major importing countries of Central Asia, West Asia and the Gulf region and hence they are in no hurry to increase its import. A good amount of Basmati rice was also imported from Pakistan to these countries.
The current situation is that the export offer price of Indian Basmati rice has come down to $ 800-850 per tonne, which is 100-150 dollars per tonne below the minimum export price (MAP) of $ 950 per tonne set by the Central Government.
It is worth noting that the contract price below $ 950 per tonne cannot be registered in APEDA and without registration, export shipment of Basmati rice cannot be done.
Exporters have urged APEDA to intervene in the matter immediately. If this is not taken care of as soon as possible, the export of Basmati rice may come to a halt.
Last year, when the government announced a ban on commercial export of non-Basmati white (raw) rice in July and imposed a minimum export price of Rs 1200 per tonne for Basmati rice while imposing an export duty of 20 per cent on Sela rice in August, foreign buyers became apprehensive.
Therefore, when the MAP was reduced from $1200 per tonne to $950 per tonne in October 2023, foreign importers showed tremendous interest in buying Indian Basmati rice and other countries including Saudi Arabia and Iraq imported it in huge quantities and created huge stocks.
Those countries feared that policy changes could also reduce the promotion of Basmati rice exports in India. Unless the previous stock is reduced, importers from these countries will not be able to actively buy Basmati at higher prices.