India’s rice export to China gets major boost

New Delhi: Earlier in May 2018, officials from China inspected Indian rice mills that are capable of exporting non-basmati rice, following which 19 rice mills and processing units were registered for export to the biggest neighboring country.

It was later followed by the first consignment of non-basmati rice, of 100 tonnes shipped to China, from Nagpur, in September this year.

Now in a further boost to the exports, five more rice mills have been cleared for exporting non-basmati rice, from India to China, taking the total to 24 rice mills.

During Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s, visit to China, in June this year, an MoU was signed between China’s General Administration of Customs and India’s Department of Agriculture on phytosanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China. The 2006 protocol on phytosanitary requirements was amended to include the export of non-basmati varieties of rice from India.

China is the world’s largest producer and importer of rice and buys more than 5 MT/year. There is potential for India to export 1 MT of rice to China in a few years. India’s total rice exports increased from 10.8 MT a year earlier to 12.7 MT last fiscal. This allowed India to retain the top slot in global trade of the commodity.

Recently China also lifted the ban on import of rapeseed meal from India. The ban was imposed in 2011 and India’s export of rapeseed meal was worth USD 161 million that year. India has surplus of 500,000 tonnes of rapeseed meal to export to China every year.

Rapeseed and soybean meal are used as protein source for animal feed in China.

China has imposed tariffs of 25 percent on a list of American products including rapeseed meal and soybean meal in July this year and has removed tariffs on these products from five Asian countries including India.

India is keen to export agriculture products like rice and sugar to China in order to bridge widening trade deficit.