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As non-basmati rice shipments clock a 52 per cent growth in the first nine months on robust purchases by countries such as China and Bangladesh, exporters are hopeful of exceeding the targeted 16 million tonnes (mt) for the current fiscal.
Non-basmati rice shipments crossed 12.53 mt in April-December 2021 as compared to 8.25 million tonnes in the same period last year. In value terms, the non-basmati rice shipments were up 46 per cent at $4.48 billion as compared to $3.07 billion in same period last year. In 2020-21, India’s non-basmati rice exports stood at 13.08 mt valued at $4.796 billion compared with 5.03 mt valued at $2.034 billion in the previous year.
“We were targetting 16 million tonnes for the current financial year. Going by the current trend, the shipments may touch 17 million tonnes,” BV Krishna Rao, President of The Rice Exporters Association, said.
Top buyers
Largest buyer this year, so far, Bangladesh has purchased a record 1.53 mt against a mere 13,811 tonnes in the same period last year. In value terms, the Bangladesh rice purchases were over $596 million ($13.47 million).
“Bangladesh, which has been an aggressive buyer since January last year, has slowed down purchases now. China’s purchases are seen topping a million tonnes. We feel China’s purchases will be more as long as the corn prices are high. China is buying brokens to meet the feed requirements,” Rao said.
China has imported about 9.05 lakh tonnes in April-December compared with 33,705 tonnes in the same period last year. In value terms, China’s rice buys from India has exceeded $275 million ( $10.29 million).
Similarly, other countries which have scaled up their purchases include Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Senegal, Somalia and Indonesia among others.
Vietnam has bought over half a million tonnes during April-Dec this year, more than eleven times that of the same period previous year. Vietnam imported 5.66 lakh tonnes valued at $187 million as compared to 48,581 tonnes valued at $15.4 million in the previous year.
Some markets like Nepal, Mozambique are stable, while several countries including Malaysia, Togo, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Russia and Iraq have scaled down their purchases.
Crop projections
As per the first advance estimates, India is expected to harvest a record 107.04 mt of rice, the main kharif cereal crop. Kharif planting of rice was at a record 411.46 lakh ha over the normal area of 395.66 lakh ha. However, in the ongoing rabi season, the rice acreage has seen a decline at 23.61 lakh ha as on January 21, over the normal area for the season of 42.5 lakh ha.
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