During the pandemic period, our neighboring country became one of the top importers of our Indian rice. They had imported 16.34 lakh metric tonnes (LMT), which is 7.7% of the total price that has been exported to other countries. The total exported amount of rice to foreign nations in the 2021 – 2022 Financial Year is 212 lakh metric tonnes (LMT.)
The rice exported from and imported into China is mostly broken rice. A whopping 97% of the country’s imported rice from India is broken rice which is 15.76 LMT. China has seen a recent spike in demand for broken rice, which led to this scenario. Usually, the broken rice from India will be exported to African countries, and those countries remained the top buyer of Indian broken rice before China took over its place.
In the financial year 2020 – 2021, the total trade of rice from India to other countries was 177.79 LMT. But in 2021 – 2022, both basmati and non-basmati rice exported quantity is 212 LMT which is 19.30 percent higher than the previous year’s export quantity. Back in the 2020 – 2021 fiscal year, China only bought 3.31 LMT of rice from India. Compared to the 2020 – 2021 and 2021 – 2022 fiscal years trade with China, the export quantity of rice from India to China has risen by over 392.20 percent.
Non-basmati rice is the major rice that has been exported to other countries in large quantities. In the last fiscal year, exports of non-basmati rice accounted for 172.62 LMT, which is 31 percent higher than the previous year’s export quantity. In the 2020 – 2021 fiscal year, the export of non-basmati rice was just 131.49 LMT.
The quantity of broken rice exported from India to other foreign countries in the 2021 -2022 fiscal year was 38.64 LMT. The broken rice was exported to 83 countries in total, but the majority of this type of rice was bought by China. Out of the 38.64 LMT, 15.76 LMT has been imported to China. The trade quantity of broken rice has risen 476.40 percent compared to the 2020 – 2021 fiscal year. From just 2.73 LMT to 15.76 LMT, China has now officially become the largest importer of broken rice from India.
Trade experts who have analyzed several parameters say that the reason for China’s sudden spike in buying Indian broken is due to the increased demand for producing wine and noodles. Chinese people use broken rice to produce noodles and other edible items.
The former president of All India Rice Exporters Association, Vijay Setia, has also stated the same reason for China’s abnormal buying of Indian broken rice.
Experts also suggest that the recent spike in demand for Indian broken rice can be caused due to the price hike of corn. It is common for the demand for broken rice to rise in times of increasing prices of food materials.