India likely to capture nearly half of global rice trade this year

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The expanded port-handling capacity will allow India to ship as much as 22 million tonnes of rice this year, which would be more than the combined exports of the next three largest rice exporters – Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan – put together.

India could account for nearly 45% of global rice exports in 2021, the highest ever export volumes to customers in Asia and Africa, according to a report in Reuters. India’s rice exports rose significantly last year by as much as 49% over the previous year to a record 14.7 million tonnes. The export of non-Basmati rice shot up by nearly 77% to its highest ever volume of 9.7 million tonnes. This year, non-basmati rice exports could grow by 200% to 18 million tonnes, while the shipments of premium basmati rice are expected to be around 4 million tonnes, the report added quoting experts.

The report quoted Nitin Gupta, vice president of Olam India’s rice business, as saying, “Along with traditional buyers, this year China, Vietnam and Bangladesh are also making purchases from India.” According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the global rice export business in the 2021-22 season could rise to as much as 48.5 million tonnes.

How turnaround happened

The major reason behind the promising export figures of Indian rice is mainly due to Andhra Pradesh allowing the use of a deepwater port at Kakinada for rice shipments. Due to the limited infrastructure at Kakinada Anchorage, India’s main rice port, regular congestion, and prolonged delays were reported last year, which gave many buyers reasons to switch their supplies. According to an expert quoted in the report, this was the state of affairs despite India offering consistently cheaper supplies – discounts of over $100 per tonne – than other rice exporting countries such as Thailand and Vietnam since last March, at a time when global demand for rice has been on the rise.

The move by the Andhra Pradesh government paid immediate dividends, with India exporting 12.84 million tonnes of rice in the first seven months of 2021, up 65% from a year ago, according to the data from the ministry of commerce.

The report quoted BV Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association of India, as saying, “Vessel waiting period has gone down after the deepwater port started handling rice. Demand that could have shifted to other countries remained with us.”

However, despite the extra port, the infrastructure at Kakinada still leaves more to be desired. According to Fahim Shamsi, the captain of a ship that was loading rice at Kakinada this month, quoted by Reuters, “Here in Kakinada, it takes nearly a month to load around 33,000 tonnes of rice from the time we drop the anchor. In Thailand, it takes only 11 days for the same quantity.”