KOLKATA: US-based trade finance company
Drip Capital has released a report detailing the state of India’s
rice exports which says that rice exports this year have seen a decline across the globe with a major dip coming from the Middle East due to heightened geopolitical tensions. A resulting fall in prices has further aggravated the sector’s woes.
Within the
Indian export basket, rice contributes to over 2% of overall exports. The sector reported a
CAGR of 14% between FY2010 to FY2019. However, rice exports this year have seen a decline across the globe with a major dip coming from the Middle East due to heightened geopolitical tensions. A resulting fall in prices has further aggravated the sector’s woes, the report adds.
Haryana is the top basmati rice exporting state in the country with a CAGR of 3% between FY16-19, shipping US$2,410 million in FY19 alone. Gujarat is second with shipments of US$1,106 million in FY19; however, Gujarat has posted an impressive CAGR of 47% over FY16-19. Other major contributing states are Delhi, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.
Rice being a
Kharif crop (August – November) shows a clear seasonal pattern in exports as well. The four months post-harvest (December – March) see over 40% of annual exports as compared to the rest of the year. The current year's (FY19-20) rice exports have also been trending much below previous years’ performance.
Pushkar Mukewar, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Drip Capital said, “YTD exports so far are looking bleak with Iran, the biggest export market, seeing a 22% fall in shipments. Other export markets like the UAE (33%), Nepal (23%), Yemen (2%), Senegal (90%) and Bangladesh (94%) have also seen a fall in rice shipments from India. On the other hand, exports to certain nations broke from the trend to post growth, such as Saudi Arabia (4%), Iraq (10%), Benin (8%) and the
USA (4%).”