March 9, 2021
At a time when there is a dip in shipments of most major agricultural and processed food products, India’s non-basmati rice exports experienced a surge, in spite of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Non-basmati exports to countries in West Asia and some in the African continent have risen over the past few months as they have been building a reserve stock of the cereal, antedating a global food scarcity because of the pandemic.
Shipments of the staple food grain between April 2020 and January 2021 more than doubled over the same period in the previous financial year, showed provisional government data.
Shipments of the food grain rose 115.44 percent to $3.51 billion in April-January 2020-21 from $1.63 billion in the same period in 2019-20, according to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
At the same time, shipments of basmati, which had largely narrowed off since May 2020, dropped 2.66 percent to $3.27 billion from $3.36 billion.
Iran, one of the largest global consumers of basmati and non-basmati rice imported 12,000 metric ton during 2020-21, as against 11,250 metric ton in FY20, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.
Other countries that have recorded a noticeable increase in imports of different types of non-basmati rice even between April and December, 2020 include Madagascar, Malaysia, Benin, Togo and Senegal.
In the current fiscal, the total rice sowing in India in Rabi season has risen nearly 17 percent on-year at 3.5 million hectares, while Kharif rice sowing in the year has risen up to 6 per cent and was 40.7 million hectares, as per Agriculture Ministry data.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry expects a “major boost” in India’s rice exports potential, with APEDA’s promotion of these cereal grain through collaborations with various stakeholders in the value chain.
On March 4, the country’s first consignment of Assam-grown red rice had been flagged off to the United States.
Non-basmati and basmati rice form a major portion of APEDA’s export basket, with non-basmati accounting for 22.52 percent and basmati around 20.99 percent of the authority’s total exports.
Buffalo meat — another major product that accounts for 16.83 percent of APEDA’s exports — is among those that have seen a disruption in shipments during the pandemic year.
India recorded $2.62 billion in exports of the livestock product between April-January 2020-21, down 5.62 percent from the $2.78 billion it had shipped during the same period in 2019-20.