China finally allows imports of basmati rice from India

24 Apr 2012 Evaluate

After a wait of six years, China has finally allowed imports of basmati rice from India. This has come in as a big boost to Indian exporters who would now get access to the world’s largest market of 1.3 billion people for their about 4.5 million tonnes of aromatic rice.

The Indian Embassy in China is now planning to conduct a publicity campaign to push basmati rice into the Chinese markets. Experts are of the opinion that to start with, Indian exporters should aim for star hotels and Indian restaurants, which are mushrooming all over China and take advantage of the steady increase of Indian and foreign travelers to China.

On the other hand, it will also be a challenge to enter the Chinese markets as the people of China eat sticky (glutinous) rice which is easy to take it with chopsticks. Efforts will have to be made to introduce India's aromatic rice in a big way.

Indian diplomats have regarded the move as a diplomatic success considering that China was found dithering ever since India formally sought an opening for India's top rice in 2006. In fact China had banned imports of several Indian agricultural products, including basmati rice, because of the issues of pest control and monitoring of quarantine pests in processing and storage houses in India.

Its rice demand so far was being met by imports from Pakistan and Thailand.  Pakistan had no such problem in securing permission due to its strategic friendship with China. However, it may be noted that Indian basmati is sold to over 100 countries, including the US, the UK, the UAE, Iran, Kuwait and Europe. Some traders have also pointed out the case of Indian mangoes for which China has granted export permission in 2003, not a single mango was shipped.  The neighboring country has banned imports of fruits and vegetables.

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