Bangladesh has floated a tender to buy 50,000 tonnes of non-basmati rice from India, adding to the growing overseas demand for the commodity and raising hopes that this fiscal will be good for Indian rice exporters.
“The move augurs well for the country’s non-basmati rice trade,” Vinod Kaul, executive director of All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA), told ET, adding that Bangladesh is likely to buy the 50,000 tonnes of rice through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed).
Kaul said demand from Africa and China for India’s non-basmati rice is also strong, and that overall non-basmati rice exports could top last year’s figures if the trend continues.
India saw a surge in farm exports in FY21, a pandemic year. The surge was driven by record-high sales of rice-13.9 million tonnes of non-basmati and 4.6 million tonnes of basmati – and sales of 2.08 mt of wheat, a six-year high.
Africa accounted for 54% of India’s $4.796-billion worth of non-basmati rice shipments in 2020-21.
“Even the demand from China continues to remain strong. If this trend continues, we will be able to achieve last year’s non-basmati rice exports and may even cross it if demand from importing nations surges in the coming months,” he said.
Indian non-basmati rice remains competitive in the world market, which is why the export demand is on the higher side. The price of Indian rice is in the $360-390 per tonne range compared with Thailand’s $495 per tonne, Vietnam’s $470 per tonne, and Pakistan’s $440 per tonne.
Suraj Agarwal, CEO of Tirupati Agri Trade, said, “West Bengal is one of the major states from where non-basmati rice is exported to Bangladesh. The latest order from Bangladesh will uplift the price of non-basmati rice in the state, where production has remained higher.”
Source : Economic Times
