By Gurpreet Singh Nibber

Exporters’ association says traders have last year’s stock that they couldn’t export due to minimum export price of $950 imposed by the Centre

The arrivals of premium aromatic grain basmati in the mandis of Punjab is higher than the previous season by at least 10% but the price it has been fetching is less by one-third than the price at which the produce was sold last season.

So far, 4.81 lakh tonnes of basmati has arrived in the state’s mandis which correspondingly last year was 4.26 lakh tonnes. The maximum price the grain fetched this season is ₹3,700 per quintal which last year was ₹5,530. The produce touched the lowest price of ₹1,900 last year which this year is ₹1,800, even less than the MSP of ₹2,350 on parmal variety.

“With increase in area under the premium crop cultivation, the production has gone up, leading to a situation when the prices of the produce have fallen. Basmati traders and exporters are not lifting the stocks because they have huge stocks of the previous season as the Centre imposed a minimum export price of $950, due to which the exporters were unable to export the stocks as they have been doing in the past,” said basmati exporters’ association director Ashok Sethi.

He added that the freshly harvested basmati has high moisture content of 20-22% due to which the traders are reluctant to buy and the prices are also on the lower side. This season, basmati has been grown over 6.80 lakh hectares, 84,000 more than the previous season.

According to Ravi Sher Singh, a basmati grower from Tarn Taran, the premium crop has been mostly sold at around ₹2,700 per quintal which is half of the last year’s price. He said that the government should make a policy to control the price fluctuation.The ongoing dip in prices is also attributed to Iran, Israel and Lebanon war. According to Vijay Setia, a basmati exporter, Iran purchases at least 4 lakh tonnes of basmati every year. “In the current season, it has placed orders for one lakh tonnes and so far taken delivery of 50,000 tonnes only. The fall in demand will lead to fall in prices,” he reiterated.

According to him, the Centre fearing exports of parmal variety rice imposed restriction by announcing minimum export price. It has been revoked but it has left a mark on the basmati trade as well.

According to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) figures, the foreign exchange earnings in 2022 from export of 175 lakh tonnes of non-basmati rice was ₹63,000 crore, while from the export of 45 lakh tonnes of basmati rice, the forex realisation was ₹48,000 crore. Punjab has the geographical indication (GI) tag for basmati and it contributes at least 40% of the total exports from the country. The premium crop is purchased by the traders and exporters while parmal variety is purchased by the state agencies on an MSP fixed by the commission for agricultural costs and prices (CACP).

“The government is pushing farmers to diversify to basmati. When it comes to price support, they are non-committal which is another example of discrimination towards farmers,” said Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, general secretary of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ughrahan).

Published Date: October 8, 2024