Non-basmati rice exports soar to historic $6.11 bn in 2021-22

New Delhi: India's non-basmati rice exports have increased to $6.11 billion in 2021-22 from $2.92 billion in 2013-14, the commerce ministry said on Wednesday.

India exported rice to over 150 countries in 2021-22. According to the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics data, India had exported non-basmati rice worth $2 billion in 2019-20, which rose to $4.8 billion in 2020-21 and $6.11 billion in 2021-22. "In collaboration with our foreign missions, we have coordinated development of logistics as well as focus on the production of quality produce, which has boosted India's rice exports prospects," M Angamuthu, Chairman, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), said.

West African country Benin is one of the major importers of non-basmati rice from India. Other destinations include Nepal, Bangladesh, China, Cote D' Ivoire, Togo, Senegal, Guinea, Vietnam, Djibouti, Madagascar, Cameroon Somalia, Malaysia, Liberia and UAE. India's thrust on expanding port handling infrastructure, development of value chain, involving key stakeholders along with efforts to explore new opportunities in countries or markets for rice exports in the last couple of years have led to a huge spike in rice exports, the ministry said.

The major rice-producing states are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam, and Haryana. As per Second Advance Estimates for 2021-22, the total rice production 2021-22 is estimated at a record 127.93 million tonnes, which is 11.49 million tonnes higher than the last five years' average production of 116.44 million tonnes, it added. India is the world's second-largest rice producer after China.