Sharp rise in demand from the US, Europe and the middle-eastern countries for Basmati rice and Africa and Asian countries for non-Basmati rice, India is all set emerge as world’s top rice exporters in the current fiscal.

This will be second time in a row that India is likely to emerge as biggest rice exporter globally. As per the commerce ministry data (April-November, 2013), India has exported close to 7 million tonnes (MT) of rice and expected to ship more than 10.5 MT by end of current fiscal.

More than 2.3 MT of aromatic and long-grain Basmati rice and 4.6 MT of non-Basmati rice were exported during first eight months of the current fiscal. “Demand for rice has been rising from all across the globe and we expect to reach a record level of exports by the end of current fiscal,” a commerce ministry official said.

The exporters are targeting to achieve more than 10.5 MT of rice in 2013-14 while in the previous fiscal, the country has shipped 10 MT. Thailand and Vietnam are the other rice exporters, who ship around 7 MT of rice annually each. Rice exports have been looking northwards since the country lifted a four-year ban on non-Basmati rice shipment after in September 2011. The ministry data also indicate that last fiscal rice exports fetched more than Rs 33,800 crore while in the April-November 2013 period, India has earned more than Rs 29,000 crore.