New Delhi: India postponed the inspection certificate requirement for the export of rice to the European countries by export inspection authorities until 1 January 2021 on Tuesday.
The Export Policy has been changed by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and specified that only certification from the Export Inspection Council (EIC), or the Export Inspection Agency (EIA) would be mandatory if Rice (Basmati and Non-Basmati) is exported to EU and other European countries, namely Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland.
EIC is India’s official export certification body which ensures that products exported from India are quality and health.
The Export Inspection Council / Export Inspection Agency certificate for exportation will be required from 1 January 2021 for exports to the rest of Europe (except for Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).
It has become evident that Africa has become the biggest buying rice for non-basmatia and that exporters expect that when Bangladesh starts to import this crop, volumes will increase further. ‘Africa is dependent on Indian rice this year because prices of Thai rice have risen.
It is positive that the FY18 levels will be impacted by the export of India’s non-basmatic rice by 8.64 million tonnes. In the next two years, we then dropped exports of non-basmati rice, with exports of 5.04 million tons in FY20. This decline in non-basmati rice is because paddy is produced by the Government and farmers do not have an interest in the exports. The State also received large amounts of rice. Of this cause, exports have decreased.
Bangladesh will also be open to Indian exports of non-Basmatian rice. Either they buy from private companies directly, or they purchase from government to market. It will fillip the country’s rice exports, no matter how it happens. Traders in Bangladesh said that rice millers requested high rice prices from the government warehouses.
In January it was announced that an inspection certificate by export inspection agencies will be compulsory for exports from 1 July 2020 to other European countries.
Indian rice exports to Europe in FY20 amounted to $278.68 million, down 13.7% from the $323.09 million in FY19.
