Rice exports to set new record this year

NEW DELHI : Despite the pandemic demand waning out, rice exports rose an impressive 10.5 per cent between April and October over the record exports in FY21. A new record in rice exports is expected this year.

In value terms, rice exports grew 10.5 per cent, increasing from $4,777.35 million in April-October 2020 to $5,278.95 million in April-October 2021. Between April and October, rice exports have almost touched 60 per cent of last year’s exports in value.

Rice exports fetched $8.8 billion in FY21. Of this, non-basmati rice revenues more than doubled to $4.8 billion. However, basmati rice saw a drop of 7 per cent to $4 billion.

Even in volume terms, rice exports had almost doubled to an all-time high of 17.7 million tonnes last fiscal, against 9.5 mt a year ago.  In the pandemic year, several countries have been stocking up food items prior to going into lockdown. Scarcity and export restrictions in some of the exporting countries saw demand for Indian rice going up. Further, Indian rice is becoming popular in the global market for its lower price and better quality.

Even after the pandemic, the demand for Indian rice is high. In volume terms, the country has already exported 8.3 mt of rice between April and September, up 11.44 per cent over 7.5 mt a year ago.