Basmati acreage is set to increase by at least a tenth this kharif season as expectation of higher returns may prompt farmers in northern States to plant more area under the aromatic rice variety.
“The area under basmati will definitely go up at least by 50-60 per cent over last year…It could be even 100 per cent,” said Anil Mittal, Chairman of KRBL Ltd, which owns the India Gate basmati brand and is the country’s largest exporter.
Basmati prices had almost doubled last year over the previous year on an estimated 30 per cent shortfall in crop size and rising demand from both domestic and overseas markets.
The prices of Pusa 1121, a paddy variety that now accounts for almost 80 per cent of the produce, were quoting around Rs 40,000 a tonne against around Rs 21,000 at the beginning of the harvest season in October last year.
“There should be at least a 10 per cent increase in area, similar to that of last year,” said R. Sundaresan, Executive Director, All-India Rice Exporters Association, striking a conservative note.
acreage
Basmati acreage in 2012-13 stood at 1.85 million hectares, an increase of 32,000 hectares over the previous year.
The transplanting of basmati planting normally starts in July every year, but the nurseries for transplantation are raised during June.
Based on the trend in sales of seeds in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, trade sources see farmers switching over to basmati from the other rice varieties and cotton to some extent eyeing better returns.
“Things are very conducive for an increase in basmati area and the way the seeds are being sold, the acreage is poised to double especially for Pusa 1121 variety,” said Vijay Setia, Director, Chamal Lal Setia Exports Ltd.
Interestingly, seed retailers in Punjab and Haryana are seeing higher demand for super fine rice variety PR 14, which is used for blending with basmati mainly for the Iran market to keep the prices under control, sources said.
Basmati exports jumped around 10 per cent to 3.5 million tonnes valued at over Rs 17,000 crore in fiscal 2012-13 on rise in global demand led by major customers such as Iran and other West Asian nations.
exports
Non-basmati rice shipments during the fiscal registered an increase of 58 per cent at around 6.5 mt against last year’s 4.09 mt.
This quantum jump in non-basmati rice shipments was mainly on account of huge demand from African countries, such as Nigeria and Ghana and also from Indonesia.