By Mahua VenkateshNew Delhi, April 5: Price of rice that is exported from Vietnam and Thailand has reduced sharply in the last couple of weeks.A reduction in price will help the exporters of these two countries to regain competitiveness.
However, India is not worried yet as its export contracts are intact and there are no indications that they will drop.
Though there could be some minor drop in demand from the African countries which have been importing rice in large quantities, the All India Rice Exporters’ Association told India Narrative that there is no indication that other rice importing nations will move away from India.
Indian rice for the exports market is priced at around $350 to $380 per tonne.Even after the drop in rice price for exports from Vietnam and Thailand, it is higher compared to the Indian prices.
Even after slashing rates, rice from the these two countries are still higher priced than India.
India has started supplying the grain to Bangladesh and China too.
This year, until January India exported 9.6 million tonnes of non Basmati rice –an increase of 129 per cent compared to 2019-20.Similarly, exports of Basmati rice went up by 14 per cent to touch 3.7 million tonnes.
“There is no need for any worry even as Vietnam decided to reduce prices.India has already started exporting huge quantities and that is expected to continue though there could be some minor drop in demand from the African countries,” Vinod Kaul, executive director, All India Rice Exporters’ Association said.
India’s role in global rice supply
After supplying Covid 19 vaccines to over 90 countries, India’s role in maintaining global food security has become crucial.India is rapidly turning out to be the most crucial supplier of rice in the world.
Supply of the staple cereal from other major rice exporting economies including Thailand and Vietnam fell sharply in 2020, due to reduced production after floods and droughts ravaged those countries.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) noted that India’s rice production could hit a record high as the crop benefitted from monsoon that supported increased plantings and good yields, World-Grain, a platform collating data and information on grain, four and weed said.
India, which already supplies over 32 per cent of the global rice needs, witnessed an 80.4 per cent increase in exports of rice – both basmati and non basmati during the April-December period of the current financial year touching 11.58 million tonnes.
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