Two aromatic Basmati Rice have huge demand from the European Market. One is Pusa Basmati Rice and the other one is 1121 Basmati Rice.
Certificate of Inspection by the European Union
- In the last year November’2019, India exported approximately 3 lakh tons of Basmati Rice to European Countries. After such a bulk export, the country imposed a rule that from now onwards export of rice (Basmati Rice and Non Basmati Rice) to European Union countries required Certificate of Inspection. The rule was that the certificate would be issued from a Government agency to ship rice varieties to countries of the European Union.
- According to the European Commission, the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) level for fungicide is 0.01 mg per kg from 0.03mg earlier.
Indian Rice Exports have been Hit Hard by Growing Tension
The assurance to quality and safety were provided through either a consignment wise inspection or a quality assurance/food safety management based certification. The major export Inspection Agencies are located at Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, Delhi, and Chennai.
- Recently, a large number of manufacturers are not able to register the rice products as they find the process of quality assurance is costly and there also a probability of rejection of export samples.
- Some exporters from India are in an uneasy situation in the market whose consignment has been blocked. Exporters are worried that only some options are available to the refused consignments, bringing the consignment back to India, or destroying it, or rerouting the shipments to the countries where such MRL is permitted.
- The rejection of samples hits the market growth and exporters are finding hard to sustain in the market. Finally, farmers are also affected as their grain devalued by approx. 20 to 25 percent.
Jordan Refused to Offload Rice Consignments
- All of a sudden, Jordan has decided to adopt the European Union norms for fungicide residue without any written notification, when consignment left from India it was within permissible limits.
- Before the implementation of new norms for the European Union, the MRL in India was 1ppm. But the countries like Japan and the USA, the tolerance level of Tricyclazole is 3ppm and 5ppm respectively.
Future Prospects on Rice Consignments
- Rice Exporters from India is hopeful that the pesticide management bill, 2020 will urge pesticide manufacturers to register their products in foreign markets such as the USA and European Union which will help to boost the rice shipment from India.
- The All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA) has taken an initiative on the issue of Jordan rejecting rice containers in the market.
- Indian Rice Exporters have been expecting that the Central Government for getting a new norm which will relax the limit of pesticide residue by the European Union.
