NEW DELHI : In a blow to basmati players, the US has made registration with National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO) mandatory for Indian exporters of aromatic rice.While the registration process has been on for the past three years, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) has issued a warning that basmati rice exports to the US would be allowed only from rice mills/processing units registered with NPPO effective April 1.
India ships around 100,000 tonnes of basmati rice worth $140 million to the US every year. But, Indian exporters had in the past shipped more quantity either for stock-building there or to compensate quantity of rejections. The US market constitutes nearly five per cent of India's annual basmati rice exports to the tune of 3.7 million tonnes (Rs $4.5 billion). Trade sources estimate 10-15 per cent of consignment gets rejected every year.
“Around 95 per cent of exporters have already got registered with NPPO with basmati rice shipment happening in much organized manner. Therefore, it his highly unlikely there will be any impact in terms of basmati rice exports to the US with 10 per variation being common,” said an Apeda official.
China has also raised the practice of standard operating system of basmati rice exporters in India. While China has allowed its direct market access for Indians, a significant quantity already goes to the former through Hong Kong. As a consequence, direct demand from China has not emerged in a significant quantity yet. “But, NPPO-registered exporters would soon start basmati rice exports to China soon,” said Rajan Sundareshan, Executive Director of All India Rice Exporters' Association.
Source: Dailyshippingtimes.com
