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G. Srinivasan

New Delhi, Sept. 4 The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has lifted the ban on export of non-basmati rice prospectively to be applicable only for the export of Pusa 1121 variety subject to a few port restrictions and also after due registration through Agricultural and Processed Food Product Export Development Authority (APEDA) with minimum export price (MEP).

According to the DGFT notification, the export of non-basmati Pusa 1121 would be allowed only after the exporter registers through APEDA.

Further such exports would be restricted to six ports from the country— Kandla, Kakinda, Kolkata, JNPT, Mumbai, Mundra and Pipavav.

The export of such non-basmati rice would be allowed — only effective from October 15, 2008 — out of paddy procured in kharif marketing season 2008-09. The export would be permitted only if the minimum f.o.b price is $1200 a tonne or Rs 48,000.

Reacting strongly to the Commerce Ministry’s decision to allow Pusa 1121 variety as non-basmati rice, the All India Rice Exporters’ Association President, Mr Vijay Setia, said this evolved variety came out of ‘Basmati Development and Improvement Programme’. Its popularity as world’s longest cooking rice among connoisseur of palates all over the world had fetched all-time higher demand from expatriate Indians and overseas consumers, resulting in hefty realisation of prices for growers of this rice genre.

He said for the past several years this variety is exported and accepted as basmati and Punjab Agriculture Department has released this variety for cultivation as basmati. By notifying it as non-basmati rice, the Union Government has disregarded the considered views of farm scientists/institutions. He said the Government should review its latest notification and notify Pusa 1121 as evolved basmati so that all rebate and concessions available to traditional basmati in the European Union (EU) and duty derogation would not be denied to the growers of Pusa 1121.

Echoing similar views, the Basmati Rice Farmers and Exporters Development Forum said the DGFT notification has come after an office memorandum by Agriculture Ministry — announced on May 29, 2008 — that Pusa 1121 variety meets all the requirements and hence stands qualified to get incorporated into the new definition of basmati. It said more recently, the Central sub-Committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release has recommended on August 8, 2008 Pusa 1121 variety as basmati.

However, Secretary, Agriculture, Mr. T. Nanda Kumar told Business Line that “so far we have not declared it as basmati rice and this can be exported as non-basmati rice.”

Meanwhile, South India Rice Exporters’ Association Secretary, Mr P. Vishnukumar, sought a similar relaxation on export ban on non-basmati premium variety Ponni rice immediately even “with packing restrictions in consumer packs less than 5 kgs, port restriction and imposing an export duty of $200 a tonne”. In a communication to the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, the Association said if the ban on Ponni rice is not lifted now, other countries branding their local varieties of rice as ponni rice might capture our genuine variety market abroad.

Trade policy analysts say that the extant export ban on non-basmati limits the leeway of exporters to purchase merely notified traditional basmati and Pusa basmati 1 varieties. Since Pusa 1121 paddy variety has taken larger cultivation area of notified basmati rice varieties, the supply of traditional basmati rice and Pusa 1 basmati paddy would be limited in the upcoming kharif marketing season. So by allowing Pusa 1121 paddy variety for exports even in the category of aromatic or non-basmati rice would depress the price realisation of both notified basmati varieties and pusa 1121 paddy varieties to a greater extent.

They say the Government has not lifted the export ban on CSR 30 rice variety as this is also being mislabelled and exported as traditional basmati rice.

They said if the underlying idea is to empower growers of premium-price fetching aromatic rice such as Pusa 1121 and other evolved varieties, the sooner this anomaly is rectified the better as growers would be able to realise higher prices as basmati rice in the overseas markets.

More Stories on : Rice | Exports & Imports | IPR

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