Basmati acreage may remain at last year’s levels

Basmati acreage in India for the 2015-16 Kharif season is likely to remain the same as last year even as prices had dropped considerably to ₹2,000-2,900/quintal in 2014-15 from as much as ₹4,000 the year before.

Area under basmati cultivation touched 2.1 million hectares (mh) last year and sufficient rainfall across Haryana and Punjab – which account for as much as 70 per cent of basmati output – through most of the ongoing monsoon season has resulted in consistent planting.

India produced 8.3 million tonnes of basmati rice last year.

“Acreage should be about 2 mh, the same as last year at. We don’t expect a change given the good precipitation in the key basmati-growing areas and also western Uttar Pradesh which is almost completely irrigated,” said AK Singh, who heads the Genetics Division at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI).

Rajen Sundaresan, Executive Director of the All India Rice Exporters’ Association, concurred and said “initial surveys indicated that acreage this Kharif would match that of last year.”

Singh, who was the chief breeder of the Pusa-1509 basmati variety, expected a slight decline in its coverage and an increase in area under Pusa-1121, another popular variety he helped breed and which accounted for 75-80 per cent of the $4.79 billion earned through basmati exports in 2013-14.

In 2014-15, Pusa-1121 was planted on around one million hectare while Pusa-1509 was covered between 0.5 and 0.7 mh.

“There has been a slight change this year and 1121 will cover 1.3-1.35 mh while 1509 may slide to between 0.35 and 0.4 mh,” he said.

A reason for the decline in area under Pusa-1509 could be the high breakage levels in the grain, which prompted millers in Haryana to scale back on procurement this year. Early planting was identified as the chief cause for the breakage.

“Last year, farmers planted 1509 on a large scale by June since it had the qualities of being early maturing and flowered quickly, besides a higher yield. This year, they were asked to plant it in July so that the problem can be avoided,” said Trilochan Mohapatra, Director, Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack.

With Iran unlikely to buy as much basmati rice as it did two years ago, prices could take a beating when the new crop hits the market, said analysts. “If production is consistent with last year, prices are likely to be down since Iran is not buying much rice,” said Tejinder Narang, a grains trade expert.

Exports to Iran fell to 0.93 million tonnes (mt) last year from 1.4 mt the year before, according to data provided by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority.