India produced around 150 million tonnes of rice in FY2024-25 from nearly 47 million hectares, accounting for about 28% of global output.

By Abhimanyu Sharma 

India’s rice exporters aim to unlock ₹1.80 lakh crore in new rice import markets and sign export MoUs worth ₹25,000 crore at the upcoming Bharat International Rice Conference (BIRC) 2025 on October 30-31 in New Delhi.

The government has highlighted the following rice-importing countries as potential export markets, which currently import the rice worth the corresponding value from India’s competitors: Indonesia ($2,586 million), Philippines ($2,470 million), Iraq ($1,661 million), Vietnam ($1,463 million), USA ($1,194 million), China ($890 million), Malaysia ($872 million), Côte d’Ivoire ($849 million), Brazil ($678 million), France ($652 million), Japan ($623 million), Mexico ($617 million), Belgium ($602 million), the UK ($528 million), South Africa ($520 million), Saudi Arabia ($497 million), Germany ($454 million), Korea ($409 million), Mozambique ($384 million), Senegal ($373 million), Canada, Cameroon and the Netherlands ($341 million apiece), Kenya ($337 million), Benin ($218 million), and the UAE ($190 million).

Addressing the curtain raiser of the conference, Chairman of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) Abhishek Dev informed that the foreign ministers of the rice-importing countries Philippines, Ghana, Namibia and the Gambia will participate in the two-day event.

India is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of rice, supplying to over 172 countries, and aims to increase its presence in global food supply chains.

India produced around 150 million tonnes of rice in FY2024-25 from nearly 47 million hectares, accounting for about 28% of global output.

Average yields have improved from 2.72 tonnes per hectare in 2014-2015 to about 3.2 tonnes per hectare in 2024-2025, which the government has attributed to improved seed varieties, better agronomic practices, and expanded irrigation coverage.

In FY2024-25, India exported 20.1 million metric tonnes of rice valued at approximately $12.95 billion.

(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)

Published Date: October 24, 2025