With Iraq turning out to be an emerging market for basmati rice, the country’s exporters are eyeing an over 30 per cent jump in overseas aromatic rice shipments to 3 million tonnes in the current fiscal.

“Iraq is proving to be an emerging market for basmati rice export and if the demand continues to rise from this country, our total export may touch the figure of 3 mt this season,” the All-India Rice Exporters Association President, Mr Vijay Setia, told PTI today.

India last year exported 2.2 mt of basmati rice, of which over 80 per cent was shipped to Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and Yemen.

According to exporters, Iraq annually imports 1.5 mt of the premium variety of rice.

“Exporters from here shipped over 1 lakh tonnes of basmati rice, mainly PUSA 1121, to Iraq via Jordan and Dubai last year and this market is improving... We think we can export 0.7 mt of crop this year,” he said.

The growing demand from traditional markets like Iran and Saudi Arabia will also help rice exporters increase shipments to the targeted level.

To deal with the growing cases of delayed payment by importers, especially from Iran, Mr Setia said he had proposed to the Centre for permitting only one-third of total rice exports on a credit basis, while the rest should be done against cash payment or a Letter of Credit.

“There is a need to rationalise the payment system, especially with Iran buyers, so that payment to rice exporters should not get delayed,” he said.

Exporters rued that the time lag in receiving payment, particularly from Iran, has reached 90 days to 120 days.

To further promote Indian basmati exports in global markets, exporters — with the assistance of the Commerce Ministry — would install 35 slides at the Delhi International airport at an outlay of Rs 2.10 crore.

“These slides will be used for promotion of basmati varieties to woo foreigners,” he said.

The increase in demand for exports, coupled with expectations of better returns, is likely to result in the area under basmati varieties of rice in Punjab and Haryana going up by 15 per cent in the ongoing kharif sowing season.

Punjab and Haryana together account for 75 per cent of total basmati rice production in the country.

“As per preliminary reports coming from fields in Punjab and Haryana, we think the area under basmati variety, particularly PUSA 1121, PUSA 6 and PUSA 1, will increase by 15 per cent,” Mr Setia said.

However, plantations under traditional basmati varieties like HBC 19 are likely to drop by 40 per cent. “Farmers are keen to grow PUSA 1121 and other PUSA varieties because of higher yield, remunerative returns and less consumption of water,” he said.

PUSA varieties constitute over 70 to 80 per cent of the total basmati area under cultivation.

The area under basmati varieties in Punjab jumped from 3.5 lakh hectares in 2008-09 to 5.5 lakh hectares in 2010-11. Similarly, in Haryana, the area under basmati went up from 5 lakh hectares to 7 lakh hectares last season.

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