Rice has been an important staple food for human beings for thousands of years. It is the predominant grain in many parts of the world, and over half of the world’s population depends on rice as a major source of nutrition. Similarly, rice producing countries economy depends on rice production and export.
The Indian Rice industry is one of the most important industries in India. The major production of rice takes place in the states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Telangana. In India, the production of rice has increased from 85.5 million metric tons in 2018-19 to 110.15 million tons in 2020-21.
Basmati rice exports from India reached 4.62 million tons in 2020-21, valued at $4 billion. It is expected that the rice exports from India will continue to dominate the world market this year as well, according to trade and industry experts. In total, Indian rice exports fetched around Rs 65,297 crore in 2020-21, which is quite an impressive amount.
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The top ten countries in terms of volume of Basmati rice exports from India in 2020-21 are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Kuwait, United Kingdom, Qatar, and Oman. Together, these ten countries are responsible for around 80 percent of the total shipments of basmati rice from India. In 2020-21, India exported around 4.63 million tons of Basmati rice valued at Rs. 29,849 crore.
The middle east region is a leading consumer of basmati rice which it imports from India and Pakistan. The region is responsible for as much as 37.8% of the total rice consumption. The major importing countries in the region are Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which together accounted for 30 percent of Basmati rice exports from India in 2018.
Egypt is a prominent rice market in the North African region with the country’s rice supply being tabulated at 60.9 kg paddy/capita/year. The demand is higher than production which makes the region dependent on rice imports. The government in the country imports rice from China, India, Thailand, and Russia.
India is a major non-basmati rice exporter in global markets giving stiff competition to Vietnam. Thailand and the USA are the other two countries producing and exporting parboiled rice and 100% broken rice. In the financial year 2021, India witnessed an increase in exports driven by record-high sales of non-basmati (13.9 million tons) and Basmati rice (4.6 million tons). According to the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), the shipments of Non-Basmati Rice rose 115.44 percent to $3.51 billion in April-January 2020-21 from $1.63 billion in the same period in 2019-20.
India is the second-largest producer of rice after China and also the largest exporter of rice in the world. Production of rice in the country increased from 53.6 million tons in FY 1980 to 120 million tons in FY2020-21. India has exported rice valued at nearly 653 billion Indian rupees in the fiscal year 2021. This figure is significantly higher than the previous year’s export which had amounted to over 454 billion Indian rupees.
Intermittent rains during October 2021 have caused severe damage to paddy fields in several parts of India and production is expected to decline by up to 20 percent. As a direct impact, the price of Basmati has already increased by as much as Rs. 2000 per quintal.
